Literary Friday, Edition 187
Readalong for Joshilyn Jackson’s The Opposite of Everyone
Our readalong with Traveling With T for Joshilyn Jackson’s new book is under way. The Opposite of Everyone was released on Tuesday, so get your copy now and start reading.
The readalong runs through March 18, when we chat with Joshilyn on Twitter. Notes will be posted starting next Friday on Deep South, with additional content posted over at Traveling With T. You can also join the discussion on social media using the hashtags #southernlit and #jjreadalong.
Click here for more details on how to participate!
Literary News
We have an interview with North Carolina writer Matthew Griffin on his debut novel Hide, about the very recent history of gay love in America.
As a companion, Autostraddle has compiled 7 Must Read Books on Queer History and Identity in the South.
Publisher’s Weekly’s Most Anticipated Books of Spring includes John Hart’s Redemption Road.
Natalie Baszile’s book Queen Sugar is headed to television at the helm of Oprah and Director Ava DuVernay. We have the scoop!
TurnRow Books offers up a Winter’s Last Roar Reading List of titles to bundle up with before spring.
Literary Events & Contests
Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents An Evening With Rebecca Wells and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood through February 21.
Andalusia Farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, is hosting a series of events related to Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood through February 28.
The University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s Writers in the Library series presents Poetry Spring, a series of readings and author chats, through April 18.
TurnRow Book Co. in Greenwood, Mississippi, has a full calendar of author events scheduled, starting with Katy Simpson Smith on Free Men February 23.
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 where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel The Dharma Bums.
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. View the full schedule here. (Saints and Sinners literary conference also takes place April 1-3 in New Orleans.)
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.
The first annual Dave Robicheaux Literary Festival is coming to Iberia Parish, Louisiana, April 8-10.
Save the date for the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum’s annual gala April 30. This year’s event celebrates the 100th anniversary of Zelda’s debut into Montgomery, Alabama, society with a special performance by the Montgomery Ballet.
New in Southern Voice
The Widow’s Ox, a story about a simple boy and a vacuum salesman, by T.K. Lee.
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.
