Literary Friday, Edition 152
Almost Time for Summer Reading
Our Summer Reading List and a whole new section devoted to the art of summer reading debuts next week. On Friday, May 29, we’ll be chatting on Twitter about the books on the list and what everyone is most looking forward to reading. Join us from 1-2 CST (2-3 EST) using the hashtag #southernlit. We’ll also debut our full Twitter chat schedule with summer reading authors through August and lots of other fun content, from a Beach Bucket List to the opportunity to vote for your favorite book cover.
Until then, check out our Summer Reading List Sneak Peek and Traveling With T’s Beach Reads to tide you over for the long holiday weekend.
Literary News
Earlier this month, the British Film Institute’s Film Forever program listed 10 great Southern Gothic films, several of them based on books and plays.
Speaking of Southern Gothic films, Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood will hit the stage in Minneapolis next month as an opera.
Jesmyn Ward writes about genetic testing and how it changed her view of herself and her family in The New Yorker.
Charlaine Harris, Anne Rice and Octavia Butler made Flavorwire’s list of 22 Thrilling, Imaginative, and Twisted Genre Books By Women.
Learn about slave girl Harriet Jacobs and her groundbreaking book representing true history in Edenton, North Carolina.
(Non)Required Viewing
Watch the first place poetry winner of Jefferson County, Alabama’s 2015 Word Up! competition speak on how to survive being a black girl.
Literary Events
See Mary Kay Andrews May 27 at Alabama’s Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest for a Wine & Sign of her new book Beach Town.
Tennessee Williams: The Playwright and the Painter is on exhibit at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans through May 31.
Have dinner with the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire under the stars at Serenbe May 31 before the summer drama opens June 11.
The Welty Biennial in Jackson, Mississippi, is happening now through July 3 with exhibits, concerts, a dance party and snapshot contest.
SAFTA’s Fiction Writing Retreat is coming up May 29-31, and their Poetry Writing Retreat takes place June 12-14 at Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Walker Percy Weekend in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is scheduled for June 5-7 with panel discussions, craft bourbon, culinary events and documentary films.
New in Southern Voice
My Mother At Seven, With Tennessee Williams, a poem by Key West native Danielle Sellers.
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 fall road trips.
