Literary Friday, Edition 116

Interview With Lisa Wingate & End of Summer Reading Giveaway

School has started and our summer reading chats have come to a close, but we’re not quite done yet. Our Summer Reading List is still live — and sponsored by Lisa Wingate’s The Prayer Box this month. Read an interview with the Texas author about her series of books, including her latest novel The Story Keeper, out September 1. Seamlessly melding the past with the present, The Story Keeper introduces Jen Gibbs, a New York editor who finds herself immersed in a new manuscript and the world of Sarra, a mixed-race Melungeon girl trapped by dangerous men in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. Mystery surrounds the manuscript, which takes Jen back to a place she thought she had left behind forever.

We also have a few summer reads left to give away, including Emily Giffin’s The One & Only, Frances Mayes’ Under Magnolia and Charlaine Harris’s Midnight Crossroad. Comment on Literary Friday through Tuesday and tell us which book you’d like to close out the summer with. You must live in the United States to win. Winner will be notified by email and must respond within two weeks. If winner fails to respond, another one will be chosen.

Literary News 

Traveling With T blogger Tamara Welch recaps our #SouthernLitRoadTrip in Oxford, and stay tuned for more stories on literary Mississippi coming up next month. If you missed last week’s Mississippi-themed Literary Friday, click here.

Read Katie Elyce Jones’ feature on Sundress Academy for the Arts’ mission to foster writers and visual artists through a new artists residency in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Dixon Hearne interviews Louisiana writer David Armand in the Oxford American about the relationship between fathers and sons.

Author Erika Marks guest posts on She Reads about motherhood writing and freedom in relation to her new book It Comes in Waves.

The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival has released a sneak peek of its programming for 2015, including a production of “Suddenly Last Summer,” a panel discussion on “Women Writing the South” and guests Roxane Gay, Natalie Baszile, Katy Simpson Smith and Laura Lane McNeal.

#Southernlit Social 

We began our #SouthernlitRoadTrip in Tupelo, the childhood home of Elvis, so it’s only fitting that Tamara Welch sang along to The King on her way home from meeting us in Oxford.

Literary Events 

An exhibit titled William Faulkner’s Books: A Bibliographic Exhibit is on display on the third floor of J.D. Williams Library on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford through December 12.

The Decatur Book Festival is scheduled for August 29-31 in Decatur, Georgia, with keynote speaker Joyce Carol Oates. See the full author list, including Ron Rash, Emily Giffin and Pat Conroy, here.

Costumed storyteller Peter Bonner will be at the Patrick R. Cleburne Confederate Cemetery August 30 telling Civil War stories in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Jonesboro.

In the official home of Gone With the Wind, Stately Oaks Plantation will commemorate the Battle of Jonesboro September 6-7 with a living history demonstration on the grounds.

The 13th annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes will be held September 8-14 in Columbus, Mississippi, with a production of “The Glass Menagerie,” the Moon Lake Party, a scholars presentation, the famous Stella Shouting Contest and lots more.

The Savannah Book Festival presents an evening with Jack Reacher author Lee Child at the Lucas Theatre September 11.

See George Singleton September 25 at Square Books in Oxford, where he’ll be signing copies of Between Wrecks.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is calling all poets to participate in 100 Thousand Poets for Change  September 27.

Save the Date for the Eat Drink Read Write Festival in Birmingham October 3-10, featuring the area’s best food and beverage offerings served up with a literary twist and including our own Editor Erin Z. Bass.

The 26th annual Southern Festival of Books is scheduled for October 10-12 in Nashville, Tennessee. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of the Written Word,” and the extensive list of authors confirmed is out now.

The Texas Book Festival in Austin will take place October 25-26 with authors Martin Amis, Ziggy Marley and Hector Tobar.

New in Southern Voice

Seven Lemon Trees, a story by Jane Sanders set in rural, southern Florida and told by three narrators.

To find out more about your favorite Southern authors’ haunts and hangouts, download the Deep South Literary Trail App, available direct from iTunes and for Android and perfect for those summer road trips.