New Stories from the South

Have you checked out this year's collection yet? Each year, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, NC, publishes an anthology of contemporary Southern short stories, selected by a guest editor. This year's editor was ZZ Packer, author of the collection of short stories, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (2003).

Here's the table of contents to whet your appetite:

Table of Contents

Introduction by ZZ Packer
Holly Goddard Jones, Theory of Realty
Pinckney Benedict, Bridge of Sighs
Amina Gautier, The Ease of Living
Kevin Moffett, First Marriage
Robert Drummond, The Unnecessary Man
Stephanie Soileau, So This Is Permanence
Clyde Edgerton, The Great Speckled Bird
Ron Rash, Back of Beyond
Merritt Tierce, Suck It
R.T. Smith, Wretch Like Me
Karen E. Bender, Candidate
David James Poissant, Lizard Man
Daniel Wallace, The Girls
Jim Tomlinson, First Husband, First Wife
Bret Anthony Johnston, Republican
Mary Miller, Leak
Charlie Smith, Albemarle
Jennifer Moses, Child of God
Stephanie Dickinson, Lucky Seven & Dalloway
Kevin Brockmeier, Andrea Is Changing Her Name

Southern Festival of Books

Nashville, TN, hosts 250 authors at the 20th annual Southern Festival of Books this weekend. Visiting authors include Sherman Alexie, Richard Bausch, Madison Smartt Bell, Rick Bragg, Clyde Edgerton, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Bobbie Ann Mason, and tons more nationally- and locally-known authors and presenters. Too many to mention here! Sounds like a great festival!

The Southern Festival of Books will be held at Nashville's War Memorial Plaza, and the hours are:
Friday, October 10 from Noon–6 pm;
Saturday, October 11 from 9 am–6 pm;
and Sunday, October 12 from Noon–5 pm.

Authors and Geography

I spotted this book, A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia, and thought it looked interesting. From the UGA Press website:

"The guide describes such places as O'Connor's childhood home in Savannah; the Governor's Mansion, Cline House, and Central State Hospital in Milledgeville; and the family farm, Andalusia. Numerous facts about O'Connor and the people closest to her are woven into the site descriptions, as are critical observations about her Catholicism, her acute sense of character and place, and her fierce sense of humor."

I've recently noticed quite a few books that connect authors with geography. In NC, we had Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains by Georgann Eubanks, published last year. It's another interesting angle from which to study popular authors (and hopefully a boost to local tourism), and I expect we'll see more in the future. Feel free to share any related books you know of ...

Southeastern Writers...

I discovered this blog and website for the Southeastern Writers Association; they offer workshops, information on conferences and writing contests, and blurbs about regional authors. Although the focus seems to be more on Georgia, they also feature writers from NC, SC, and other Southeastern states. The membership fee is $35, and they offer services for members, like links to authors' sites and blogs and announcements about members' books being published. Worth checking out!

2008 SIBA Trade Show

Around 500 Southeastern booksellers - not to mention around 1500 book editors, publishers, authors, and other industry professionals - are going to be at the 2008 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Trade Show, September 26 - 28, in Mobile, Alabama.

Just a few of the authors who'll be there.... Ron Rash, Celia Rivenbark, William Conescu, Rick Bragg, Sarah Addison Allen, and many, many more.

Are video clips the way to go?

I know there's animosity out there towards big chains like Barnes & Noble, who are in direct competition with independent bookstores, in many cases helping to put them out of business. But can our own indies learn a few lessons from the big guys? Take a look at this video clip, part of a new series released by B&N -- I posted this because it deals with writer Dorothea Benton Frank and other women Southern writers.

Posting videos is a great idea, one I think independent bookstores could use for their own benefit. Podcasts are cheap; why not post videos of author readings, editors' picks, informal book reviews, etc... Then, make those videos available to local bloggers who can spread the word.

Are there indies out there already doing this? I'd be interested to know.

Writing the Region

Florida writers should take advantage of "Writing the Region" 12th Annual Writers Workshop in Gainesville, from July 23-27th. The workshop honors Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and features some great classes for those wanting to know more about publishing their work. Some of the offerings include "How to Write a Synposis that Won't Make an Editor Sneer" and "Six Steps to a Killer Query," as well as classes on writing fiction and poetry.

Deadline extended for weekend retreat

Ok, shameless promotion ahead!

For anyone interested in doing a weekend workshop in either "Magazine Writing and More" or "Knitting by the Sea," the deadline for the deposit has been extended to July 16.

The workshop is at the lovely Pine Knoll Shores, NC, from August 1-3 and costs $300 (for shared room) or $380 (single), including tuition, food, and room. For more details, please visit http://www.louisajdang.com/Retreats.htm

Gene Hackman spotted in NC

Co-authors Gene Hackman (yes, that Gene Hackman!) and Daniel Lenihan were at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on Friday, promoting their new Civil War novel, Escape from Andersonville. Our own Lisa Morgan was there, soaking up the history!

Here's a synopsis from Quail Ridge Books:

An explosive novel of the Civil War about one man's escape from a notorious Confederate prison camp---and his dramatic return to save his men.

July 1864. Union officer Nathan Parker has been imprisoned at nightmarish Andersonville prison camp in Georgia along with his soldiers. As others die around them, Nathan and his men hatch a daring plan to allow him to escape through a tunnel and make his way to Vicksburg, where he intends to alert his superiors to the imprisonment and push for military action. His efforts are blocked by higher-ups in the military, so Parker takes matters into his own hands. Together with a shady, dangerous ex-soldier and smuggler named Marcel Lafarge and a fascinating collection of cutthroats, soldiers, and castoffs, a desperate Parker organizes a private rescue mission to free his men before it's too late.

Exciting, thoroughly researched, and dramatic, "Escape from Andersonville" is a Civil War novel filled with action, memorable characters, and vividly realized descriptions of the war's final year.

Interview: William Conescu's Debut

Up-and-coming North Carolina author William Conescu will celebrate the release of his first book, Being Written, on September 9. He was the first graduate of N.C. State University's new creative writing M.F.A. program and has been published in several literary journals, including The Gettysburg Review, New Letters, and Green Mountains Review.

We were in some of the same writing workshops at N.C. State, and I caught up with him the other day to ask him about his new novel.

What was the process for getting your novel published?

As you know from our grad school days together, I wrote Being Written as the largest part of my creative writing thesis. Because it was on the short side, I thought I’d market it as the anchor novella in a novella/short story collection. After graduating, I set it aside for about a year and wrote a few more stories, and then I showed the whole package to an agent who specializes in literary fiction. Bill Clegg is a terrific reader and a great agent. He urged me to think of Being Written as a novel and worked with me as I revised and expanded it a bit. By March 2007, we were ready to send the novel out to publishers, and it was sold to Harper Perennial within about two weeks. [...]

In Being Written, you tell the story of a man who knows that he is a minor character in a book (sort of like the movie, Stranger than Fiction, although you had written your idea way before the movie!). How did you get the idea for your novel?

I started out wanting to write a playful work of metafiction about a guy who knows he’s in a novel, but who’s the literary equivalent of a movie extra. His greatest purpose in the universe is to fill out crowd scenes. That idea tied in nicely with another story I’d been wanting to write, one about artistically-minded people in their twenties and thirties trying to figure out how best to live their lives. So these stories collide in Being Written. Daniel, the fellow who’s only been a minor character thus far in his life, works his way into the life of a singer and her “artsy” social circle and goes to some lengths to make himself a vital part of their story. I wrote Daniel’s sections in the second person, which was a lot of fun, so Being Written alternates between third person chapters of “the book” that’s being written and second person chapters that show Daniel’s perception of being written into it.

Growing up in New Orleans and later living in NC, do you consider yourself a "Southern" writer? How do you think living in the South has influenced your writing?

I don’t think someone reading my work would necessarily identify me as a Southern writer, but as you said, I’ve spent most of my life in New Orleans and North Carolina – two places with rich literary traditions. As a writer, I’ve certainly been shaped by these communities, and I’ve benefited from exceptional teachers, first in New Orleans, and then at UNC and NC State.

What are you reading right now?

Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

What is your "guilty pleasure" reading?

I love the comedienne Chelsea Handler, and I’m about to start reading Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea.

What advice would you give to writers who’re considering whether or not to attend an M.F.A. program in creative writing?

I’m someone who really values the creative writing workshop. I value the constructive feedback, I’m motivated by the deadlines, and I think we become better critics of our own writing when we critique and discuss other writers’ works-in-progress. If you value these things, then go for it. In the meantime, you might see if your local university or community college offers a creative writing workshop for continuing education students.

What are you working on now?

I’m hard at work on another novel. I’m not ready to talk about it yet (I haven’t made it to the end yet, so I only think I know what happens!), but it’s going well. I’m excited about it.

Note: If you're interested in checking out William's book before September, you can pre-order it at various websites, such as Amazon.com, Powells.com, etc...