Author! Author! -Author: Robin Wright Gunn
12/12/2007 |
I just scrolled through the list of authors coming to the first-ever Savannah Book Festival. Wow! Writers I've read and met, Writers I've read and haven't had the chance to see in person, Writers whose books I'm dying to read.
Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher are at the top of my list. Their biography of Clarence Thomas is called Supreme Discomfort, and it provides such an interesting, up-close look at Thomas, his local roots, and the Supreme Court. I never thought of a book about a judge as being a page-turner, but this one definitely is! And, I think it will be something that both Thomas-haters and Thomas-lovers will find interesting.
Other writers I'm looking forward to: Terry Kay (To Dance with the White Dog is one of my alltime favorites), Deborah Davis (loved her novel Strapless) and poets Jimmy Kimbrell and Starkey Flythe (both making encore appearances here, they each read in Savannah last year at the Southern Poetry Review/Poetry Society of Georgia series of readings.)
And of course, Mary Kay Andrews, she is as much of a trip as her fun and wacky books about Savannah. (Savannah Blues, Savannah Breeze). I still love best her character Callahan Garrity, the ex-cop turned cleaning lady, from her murder mysteries set in Atlanta's Little Five Points. Beware--every time Callahan cleans someone's house she finds a dead body, so perhaps it would be better to just read about her and get someone else to mop your floors. I'm hoping that Mary Kay will revive this series, but until then, I am always ready for another Savannah book. This will be the first time I've had the chance to see Mary Kay read.
So many choices, how to fit it all into one day? That's what they call a "problem of abundance...."
--Robin Wright Gunn, Savannah Writer and Reader.
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Spreading the News -Author: Rosemary Daniell
11/30/2007 |
I've been traveling constantly for six weeks, speaking at literary festivals -- Amelia Island, Nashville, St. Pete -- and leading workshops in Chicago and New Orleans. I'm also telling people wherever I go about the Festival!
I was also delighted to learn in New Orleans at Words and Music that Michael Malone will be with us. He's utterly wonderful and I've long wanted to get him to Savannah. I'm also looking forward to seeing Paul Hemphill after all these years. And, of course, Terry Kay, who is a dear old friend.
While I was in New Orleans, Rosemary James, the founder and organizer of Words and Music (go to www.wordsandmusic.org) said that she and her husband Joe DeSalvo plan to be here, too.
--Rosemary
www.myzonarosa.com/
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Book Clubs Alert -Author: Martha Kane Brown
11/30/2007 |
Books, the staff of life, are all over Savannah -- in homes, schools, libraries, stores and in the many book clubs functioning all over the city.
And now, on February 2, 2008, Savannah's readers can meet authors at the city's first annual Savannah Book Festival.
On that day, a Saturday, plan to attend with your book club friends to meet and hear the authors. As a book reviewer, I cherish meeting a writer. Haven't you ever wanted to know what kind of person could have written that haunting book "To Dance with the White Dog?" Well, meet Terry Kay at the Festival. Or, do you have a thing or two to share with John Berendt, author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?" Do so at the first annual SBF.
As writer Lee Smith said in her New York Times article, Nov. 25th, "Reading as a group activity rather than a private act has become a national phenomenon." Join the book huggers of Savannah on Feb. 2, 2008!
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A Savannah Girl Comes Home -Author: Katherine Oxnard
11/26/2007 |
Three years ago, when I moved back to Savannah from the northeast, I pretty much resigned myself to a life bereft of interesting minds and felt I was opting out of the Great American Literary Conversation. Much to my amazement and delight, I have met more working writers here than in 20 years up north, and I've had the opportunity to write for myriad publications, help the Live Oak Library grow, and participate in the founding of two new local magazines.
Now comes Matt Prickett to raise the bar yet again! I'm thrilled to be a part of the first annual Savannah Book Festival, not only because as a native daughter I want to see Savannah take her rightful place at the literary table; but also because I believe we have a ton to offer readers in this age of short attention spans and talk radio loud-mouths. Even one day devoted to serious writing is utterly refreshing, and I can't wait to hear such fascinating writers as Cora Daniels talking about urban life in the new millennium; Julia Reed's modern take on the south; James Swanson recounting the hunt for Lincoln's assassin; Kathryn Stripling Byer's poetry; Paul Hemphill's bio of my all-time country favorite Hank Williams; and Hugh Howard exploring the roots of our founding fathers.
My only regret is that as a reader and speaker, I'll miss out on many terrific writers! Can't wait to meet all of you and continue the dialogue.
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100 Days! -Author: Amy Rhodes
10/25/2007 |
I found a nifty online tool recently, the "Date Difference Calculator." It tells me that the inaugural Savannah Book Festival is exactly 100 days from today! For those of us planning this event, it brings to mind a million details yet to be handled. But for the rest of our community of readers, it means just a few months more to wait for something really exciting on the horizon. Let's use this time wisely...if you're jazzed about the prospect of a world-class book festival in Savannah, give us a call and ask how to help. I promise we'll find a place for you.
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