Literary Friday, Edition 109
Suzanne Palmieri’s Sixth Sense
Author of summer read The Witch of Belladonna Bay, Suzanne Palmieri examines the power of instinct while also infusing a touch of magic into her latest book. Although she lives in Connecticut, Palmieri has roots in Florida and Alabama. She sets her book on the Alabama coast in a fictional version of Magnolia Springs, where an old-money lumber family struggles to exonerate their son from a murder charge and a mysterious mist over Belladonna Bay threatens to expose their secrets. You won’t soon forget Palmieri’s magical characters Bronwyn and Byrd or the mystical setting she creates. In our interview, she talks about spending time in the real-life setting from her book, writing as catharsis and creating an inner world through her fiction.
We chat with Palmieri via Twitter today from 1-2 p.m. CST (2-3 EST) using the hashtag #southernlit. One lucky chat participant will win a copy of The Witch of Belladonna Bay and possibly a tarot card reading from Palmieri herself. (In the book, Bronwyn and Byrd use tarot cards to unlock their inner secrets.) Don’t miss the magic!
More Summer Reads
We try to consider everything in the Southern genre coming out for our reading list, but a few titles always slip through the sand. Consider these summer reads to add to your stack:
Michael Hiebert’s Close To The Broken Hearted, a follow up to his debut novel Dream with Little Angels, due out in July.
Oprah’s Summer Reading List includes Lay it on My Heart by Angela Pneuman , described as a “first novel will knock you sideways with its Southern charm and quiet humanity.”
Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke, a thriller about a chance encounter with Bonnie and Clyde, due out July 15.
Tim Robbins’ memoir Tibetan Peach Pie stitches together stories about his unconventional life, starting with his Appalachian childhood through his globetrotting adventures.
Literary News
Listen to Joshilyn Jackson preach at the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia, in a sermon titled “There is Room at the Table.”
Author Brittani Sonnenberg blogs about traveling to Oxford, Mississippi for a reading at Square Books, the Faulkner stories she hears there and why leaving the South is always bittersweet.
Get shell hunting secrets from Winston-Salem’s Dr. Charles Rawlings, author of new coffee table book Living Shells.
Vote #Hem or #MrsHem in Penguin Books’s Twitter giveaway for Mrs. Hemingway, a book about the famous writer’s four wives by Naomi Wood.
The e-book version of To Kill A Mockingbird will be available from Harper Collins July 8, and digital versions are available for pre-order now.
Traveling With T blogger Tamara Welch has details on Megan Abbott’s The Fever blog tour and asks the former John Grisham writer-in-residence a burning question. (P.S. Stay tuned for our own interview with Abbott conducted during the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival in March.)
Literary Events
Lisa Howorth will be at Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi, signing copies of Flying Shoes on July 2. And save the date for Patti Callahan Henry on July 16.
Hemingway Days will take place in Key West, Florida, July 15-20, with highlights including the “Papa” Hemingway look-alike contest, prose and poetry readings, an offbeat “Running of the Bulls,” marlin tournament and the culmination of an internationally recognized short story competition directed by Ernest’s author granddaughter Lorian Hemingway.
See Patti Callahan Henry at Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, July 17 when she’ll be signing copies of The Stories We Tell.
The annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, with the theme “Faulkner and History,” will take place July 20-24 in Oxford.
Save the date for the Decatur Book Festival August 29-31 in Decatur, Georgia, with keynote speaker Joyce Carol Oates.
New in Southern Voice
Musings of a Postmodern Hill Witch and Inheritance, a pair of poems by Kentucky native Elizabeth Burton.
