Literary Friday, Edition 123

Compulsion Giveaway

Do you have a compulsion for Southern literature? If so, you’ll want to enter author Martin Boone’s giveaway in celebration of her new novel Compulsion. Click here to enter to win seven works of Southern lit, including Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Gone With the Wind and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, through October 31. Then pick up Compulsion when it hits shelves October 28 and enter the world of Watson Island, where magical gifts battle an ancient curse to unravel a family’s twisted secrets.

Notes from Eat Drink Read Write

As those of you who’ve been following us on social media know, we’ve been in Birmingham, Alabama, all week for the public library’s Eat Drink Read Write Festival. Things kicked off last Friday with a Bards and Brews poetry slam, followed by our food and #southernlit Twitter chat last Saturday morning, a food writers fair on Sunday and literary cocktail competition and storytelling with Arc Light and Jack Pendarvis this week. EDRW wraps up tonight at the central library with Food Network Star finalist Marti Duncan and the unveiling of new book Birmingham’s Best Bites. See pics from the week’s events in our Facebook album and check out the #EDRW hashtag for highlights.

Higher Ground Coffee, a sponsor of this week’s events, has also announced a Birmingham Public Library blend, a whole bean light roast available here and at local Piggly Wigglys.

Literary News

If you joined in the She Reads chat with author Diane Chamberlain on Monday night, you know there’s plenty to discuss about her new book. That’s why we’ve teamed up with blogger Tamara Welch to host a readalong of The Silent Sister over the next few weeks. Join in as we analyze each section and finally interview Diane next month to answer all our burning questions.

We’ll be introducing readers to Louisiana Book Festival authors leading up to the November 1 event in Baton Rouge. This week, Ali Cortez talks to James Wilcox about his novel Modern Baptists, the festival’s book club book this year, and Amy Fontenot interviews Laura Lane McNeal about her book Dollbaby, set in New Orleans.

Our Fall/Winter Twitter Chat Schedule is up and includes a blockbuster double-author chat in November you won’t want to miss.

New site Insomnia Lit discusses Donna Tartt’s The Secret History as its first post.

The New York Times reports that Emory University has acquired more than 30 boxes of Flannery O’Connor’s papers and effects, including early short stories, journals and letters, in an archive that will soon be made public.

Listen to a poem by new poet laureate of the United States and Tennessee native Charles Wright in “The Writer’s Almanac.”

Literary Events

The 26th annual Southern Festival of Books is this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, and the extensive list of authors includes Pat Conroy, Joshua Ferris, Amy Greene, Lisa Howorth, Joshilyn Jackson, Frances Mayes, Marja Mills, Ron Rash and George Singleton.

Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville, Tennessee, is offering a genre-writing fiction workshop tomorrow with science fiction writer Gary Charles Wilkens.

The Delta Hot Tamale Festival in Greenville, Mississippi, will host a Literary/Culinary Mash-Up October 16-17 with a dinner and booksignings at the Burrus House (known for its role in Tennessee Williams’ “Baby Doll”) and a panel discussion with Roy Blount, John Currence, John T. Edge, Donald Link and more special guests.

The Texas Book Festival in Austin will take place October 25-26 with the largest lineup of authors in its 19-year history, including Martin Amis, Ziggy Marley, Joyce Carol Oates and Hector Tobar.

Save the date for the Louisiana Book Festival November 1 in Baton Rouge with authors Jill McCorkle, Natalie Baszile, Rick Bragg, James Carville, Laura Lane McNeal, Ernest Gaines and lots more. Five writing workshops will be held in conjunction with the festival October 31 with author-instructors Jill McCorkle, Mark Dunn, Ava Leavell Haymon, Barbara Slate and Earl Swift.

New in Southern Voice 

The Other Saints of New Orleans, a poem about predicting the future by Jennifer Maritza McCauley, and Madame Beliveau, a story about a voodoo apprentice by Ali Cortez.

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.