Literary Friday, Edition 185

Recognizing Black History Month 

We could all use an excuse to brush up on our history, but February is a special time to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, leaders who effected change and black writers in general. We have a reading list of four books (plus a giveaway!) to get you started, and our friends at Getaways for Grownups have a piece about Dr. Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History Month,” along with museums and sites worth visiting. You can also read about new film “The Birth of a Nation,” which premiered at Sundance and stars Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831, in The New Yorker.

Literary News

Ryan Murphy’s new series “American Crime Story” about O.J. Simpson premiered on FX Tuesday night, and the “American Horror Story” creator is already thinking about focusing on Hurricane Katrina in season two. According to The Advocate, “it’s all in the storytelling.”

Traveling With T talks about her book hangover for The Gates of Evangeline, one of She Reads’ Books of Winter 2016. Read our interview with author Hester Young here.

Author Taylor Brown share How I Accidentally Wrote a Civil War Novel over at Literary Hub.

And the 2016 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature goes to … Wendell Berry. Born in rural Kentucky, Berry Berry has authored more than 40 works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry and is also a noted environmental activist.

Literary Events & Contests 

Applications for The Kerouac Project’s writer-in-residence positions are due by March 13. Four residences consist of a three-month stay in the Orlando, Florida, cottage (pictured) where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel The Dharma Bums.

White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails in Atlanta invites poets from across the Southeastern U.S. to participate in its inaugural annual prize in Southern Poetry. Poems must be on the topic of love and are due TODAY!

Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville, Tennessee, presents a series of workshops as part of its OUTSpoken platform for the LGBTQ community on February 20 and March 26.

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.

And the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival takes place March 30-April 3 this year with Megan Abbott, Dorothy Allison, Mary Badham, Kiese Laymon, Rick Bragg and lots more.

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.

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

New in Southern Voice 

Two winter poems: The Burrow by Andrew Moore and My Daughter Waits For Her Father by 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 winter road trips.