Literary Friday, Edition 202
Summer Reading Interviews
Last week we talked to Laura McNeill about taking sibling rivalry to the extreme in Sister Dear. This week, we have 8 Questions for Kate DiCamillo, author of the young adult book Raymie Nightingale about a little girl desperately trying to win a Florida talent competition in an attempt to bring her father home. You can also Take a Ride on Lee Clay Johnson’s Nitro Mountain, as Eric J. Wallace explains why this debut novel from Virginia is exploding on the literary scene. And save the date for next week’s #southernlit chat with Solemn author Kalisha Buckhanon.
View our entire Summer Reading Lists with 34 books here.
Literary Links
Bustle rounds up 7 Audiobooks For Your Summer Road Trip — Narrated By Your Fave Celebrities, including Victoria Bynum’s Free State of Jones.
Margaret Eby writes about Harry Crews’ Wild Ride for New Republic upon the release of a new biography of the cult author that shows the most enduring character he created was his own.
Read Falling for Fitzgerald in The Paris Review about one author’s hopeless affair with America’s greatest — and deceased —man of letters.
It was announced that Doubleday will publish a new nonfiction collection of Pat Conroy’s letters, interviews and magazine articles titled A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections On a Writing Life in October.
Literary Events, Workshops & Contests
Themed “Murder & Mayhem in Paradise, the third-annual Mystery Writers Key West Fest will take place this weekend with Robert K. Tanenbaum, Lisa Black, Timothy Hallinan and James O. Born.
Land of Oz on Beech Mountain in North Carolina remains open Fridays in Junes for tours down The Yellow Brick Road.
South Florida Poetry Journal is seeking poetry submissions for its August issue. Send three unpublished poems and a brief bio to [email protected].
Flat Rock Playhouse will debut two new plays at the Carl Sandburg Home in North Carolina. “Spink, Skabootch and Swipes in Rootabaga Country” will be performed Wednesdays and Fridays from June 15 through August 12, and “Rootabaga Express” will be performed Thursdays and Saturdays from June 16 through August 13.
Mr. Toole, a new play about the life of John Kennedy Toole (pictured) written by one of his former students, is being performed at the Mid-Town International Theater Festival in New York July 21-31.
Writer’s Digest Editor Brian A. Klems will be a featured speaker for a How to Get Published workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, July 23.
The deadline for submissions to the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence is August 15. The contest, which includes a $10,000 prize, is open to fiction (novels or short story collections) published in 2016.
Register now for The Writer’s High Retreat with Joshilyn Jackson and Michael Morris September 9-11 at Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris, Georgia.
Save the dates for upcoming book festivals, including the Mississippi Book Festival August 20, Decatur Book Festival September 2-4 and Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 14-16.
New In Southern Voice
The Melody of the Indian Grass, written by South Carolina native Dexter Benjamin Gore, a story about a young boy coming to terms with his sexuality and its implications on his life and future.
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.
Have a piece of news, event, video or something else related to Southern lit that you’d like us to consider for Literary Friday? Send an e-mail to [email protected].
