Literary Friday, Edition 181

Happy New Year! 

We hope all of our readers had a merry holiday and received lots of reading material under the tree. The new year brings a whole crop of new books to look forward to, some of them included on our Fall/Winter Reading List. Taylor Brown’s Fallen Land is out this month, and Joshilyn Jackson’s latest novel, The Opposite of Everyone, follows in February.

Interview With T. Geronimo Johnson

We have an interview with the 2015 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence winner T. Geronimo Johnson this week. The author of Welcome to Braggsville will meet Gaines and be honored during a January 21 ceremony in Baton Rouge. We talk to him about what it means to receive the award, why he thinks writers should listen to rap and what he’s trying to wake readers up to with his politically charged comedy.

Literary News 

The Southern Independent Booksellers Association has announced its 2016 Winter Okra Picks, 13 books representing the best in forthcoming Southern lit.

Flavorwire addresses the rumor about Nell Zink’s forthcoming book Nicotine in its 50 Most Anticipated Books of 2016.

The Millions has its Great 2016 Book Preview with a few Southern lit titles to look forward to this summer.

Win the chance to work in Ernest Hemingway’s Key West writing studio by entering the new Florida Keys Flash Fiction Contest. Entries are due March 31.

Yesterday was what would have been author Zora Neale Hurston’s 125th birthday, and she was celebrated around the country by trending on Twitter and in her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, with cake and ice cream.

Literary Events

Key West Literary Seminar is happening through January 15 with more than 15 writers of short stories, essays and poetry, along with associated writers’ workshops.

Meet 25 authors from 10 states, including Kristy Woodson Harvey, Taylor Brown and Patti Callahan Henry, January 24 at Bookmarks’ “A Movable Feast” event in Winston Salem, North Carolina.

ZORA! Festival celebrating author Zora Neale Hurston in Eatonville, Florida, takes place January 23-31.

Tennessee Williams Birthday Celebration is scheduled for March 1-31 in Key West, Florida, with a party, classic film series and forum, theater performances, art exhibits and more.

Save the date for the first annual Dave Robicheaux Literary Festival coming to Iberia Parish, Louisiana, April 8-10, 2016.

New in Southern Voice

The Man With Burnt Fingers, a story about a fateful winter meeting in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, by Talya Boerner.

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.