Literary Friday, Edition 173
Fall Reading Interviews
This week, Eric Boutin-Bloomberg interviews The Scribe author Matthew Guinn about his mystery that explores 1880s Atlanta, industrialization, race relations and the city as a symbol of the New South.
Last week, we talked with David Armand, who sets his literary thriller The Gorge in a cave in Louisiana’s Bogue Chitto State Park. And earlier this month, we interviewed travel writer Paul Theroux about his first-time journey through the Deep South and North Carolina author Ron Rash about balancing light and dark in his new novel Above the Waterfall.
Still to come is an interview (and hopefully a Twitter chat) with Hester Young on The Gates of Evangeline and a guest post from Ann Hite.
Literary News
We compiled 8 Mysteries to Read Before Halloween that are perfect to curl up with on a dark night.
One of those mysteries is Atlanta-set Pretty Girls, and The Huffington Post has a conversation with author Karin Slaughter this week.
Southern Gothic gets a mention in Flavorwire’s Great Moments in Gothic Fiction thanks to writers like Faulkner, O’Connor and Capote.
Electric Literature has 6 Halloween Costume Ideas Based on Short Stories, including a creepy child scarecrow inspired by Karen Russell.
And Bookriot has a Reading List for Carol from The Walking Dead … for when she’s not slaying zombies.
Literary Events
The New Orleans Museum of Art will display Los Angeles-based artist Tim Youd’s latest installment of his “100 Novels Project,” as he retypes live a series of novels set in Louisiana, through February 21.
TurnRow Book Co. in Greenwood, Mississippi, presents up-and-coming novelists Brian Panowich (Bull Mountain), David Joy (Where All Light Tends to Go) and Michael Farris Smith (Rivers) in discussion with Jamie Kornegay (Soil) about the current state of dark Southern literature on October 29.
Save the date for the Louisiana Book Festival October 31 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge with authors Ellen Gilchrist, Susan Gregg Gilmore, Molly Antopol, David Armand, Kim Boykin, Rick Bragg, M.O. Walsh, Jamie Kornegay and many more.
The Festival of Words in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, will take place November 5-7 with literary readings, creative writing workshops, drive-by poetry, open mics and more.
Milton, Georgia, is holding a Literary Festival November 13-14 with native author Karen White, plus Kimberly Brock, Raymond Atkins and Renea Winchester.
New in Southern Voice
Seven Doors, a ghost story about the neighborhood witch, by Matt McGowan.
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.
