Literary Friday, (Early) Edition 99
With Good Friday coming up tomorrow, we thought we’d bring you Literary Friday a day early. In this edition, you can enjoy another poet interview for National Poetry Month, a look at the artistic mark Tennessee Williams left on Key West and some succulent stories from a new book about crawfish before heading to your own boil or family get together. We also have a pair of Cajun stories from Shome Dasgupta that feature the mudbugs, along with the trailer for “Gone Girl” in (Non)Required Viewing and news of a Eudora Welty event planned for 2015 in Jackson, Mississippi. Happy Easter everyone!
Literary News
Our poet interviews continue for National Poetry Month, and this week we talk to Mississippi-born Douglas Ray about the queer South, endearing qualities of the Sugarbaker sisters and what it means to be a gay Southern poet.
Cerith Mathias brings us Tom’s Town, a report on an exhibit of Tennessee Williams’ little-known artwork and the city’s plans to further honor the writer who called the island home.
A new book about crawfish from The History Press is out in time for all those Good Friday boils, and we’ve paired a few recipes to go with it.
Perhaps the biggest literary news this week is Donna Tartt’s winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Goldfinch. No matter what you’ve heard, it’s a must read of 2013.
AMC is showing Forrest Gump all month long in celebration of the movie’s 20th anniversary, which officially takes place in July.
News of a biennial event surrounding Eudora Welty in Jackson, Mississippi, was announced last Friday. The 2015 event dates are April 3-July 15, planned around what would have been the writer’s 105th birthday.
(Non)Required Viewing
Literary Events
The Mockingbird Players will perform their annual version of “To Kill A Mockingbird” in Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville starting today and running through May 17.
The Alabama Book Festival is scheduled for Saturday at Old Alabama Town in Montgomery. This year’s authors include Susan Gregg Gilmore, Cassandra King, Charles McNair and lots more.
The 20th Fitzgerald Gala will be held at the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, May 3. Attire is flapper of course, and R. Clifton Spargo, author of Beautiful Fools, has been announced as special guest.
See Garrison Keillor May 15 at the Atlanta History Center, where he will take the stage to share stories, poems and essays from The Keillor Reader.
Ellen Gilchrist also appears at the center’s Margaret Mitchell House May 21, where she will speak about her new short story collection Acts of God.
New in Southern Voice
Today’s poem is Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo by Key West’s C.S. Gilbert, and we also have a pair of Cajun stories by Lafayette writer Shome Dasgupta.
To find out more about Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, available direct from iTunes and for Android. The app has recently been updated with several new sites and lots of new photos just in time for those summer road trips!
