SouthWord: Unique chance to meet your writing heroes
It’s not often that a book reader is able to meet, much less have a conversation with a favorite author. It’s rarer still to be able to mingle with 40 accomplished writers, but that is on the agenda for the SouthWord Literary Feast.
Hosted by the Fellowship of Southern Writers and presented by the Southern Lit Alliance, the two-day event will take place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 3-4, at UTC, Bessie Smith Cultural Center and Lindsay Street Hall.
Author/poet Wendell Berry is the keynote speaker on Friday evening and Southern Lit Alliance Executive Director Linda LeVan said that dinner is sold out.
LeVan said SouthWord is unusual for several reasons.
“The Fellowship of Southern Writers is unique in that it is peer-reviewed. These are Southern writers who are considered at the top of their league and to have 40 of them able to make it is something special.”
Patrons will have the opportunity to sit in on panel discussions, workshops, meet-and-greet opportunities and in some cases, can even have lunch with some of the visiting writers.
“There are a lot of opportunities for book signings, discussions and interaction,” LeVan said.
Among the topics to be discussed during panels will be villains, writing across gender, spirituality, race in Southern literature and the influence of Harper Lee.
Other authors in attendance will include poet T.J. Jarrett, author of “Ain’t No Grave”; short story and novel writer Jill McCorkle, whose works include “The Cheer Leader” and “July 7th”; and Lee Smith, author of New York Times bestseller “The Last Girls.”
Also, Charles Frazier, author of the 1997 National Book Award for Fiction, “Cold Mountain”; fiction writer and environmental activist Silas House, author of more than 100 published short stories and poems; and bestselling novelist, poet and short-story writer Ron Rash.
Tickets, which range in price from $25 to $50, are available online at SouthernLitAlliance.org or by calling 267-1218.