This week’s Bookshelf is about a conference on marginalized Southern authors, a new book on President Jimmy Carter, an upcoming writer’s conference and Neko Case.
Gone but not forgotten. The South lost two significant women writers last year: Dorothy Allison and Tina McElroy Ansa.
Both made their debuts on the literary scene to much acclaim in the ‘90s, and both died in their 70s in the second half of 2024. Their literary legacies will be celebrated at this year’s Revival: Lost Southern Voices literary conference at Georgia Center for the Book on March 20-22.
Allison was a novelist and memoirist best known for her 1992 semiautobiographical novel “Bastard Out of Carolina,” a National Book Award finalist about an impoverished girl’s resilience growing up in an abusive home. The Greenville, South Carolina, native was an out-loud and proud lesbian feminist who taught a few semesters at Emory University in the 2000s.
She is the subject of the keynote event, “Remembering Dorothy Allison,” featuring readings and conversation between writer and activist Mab Segrest and E.R. Anderson, executive director of Charis Circle, the nonprofit programming arm of Charis Books & More in Decatur.
Ansa was a Macon native and a novelist whose 1991 debut “Baby of the Family,” a coming-of-age story about a young clairvoyant girl, was named a notable book of the year by The New York Times. A journalist who was the first Black woman to work in the newsroom at the Atlanta Journal, Ansa had a gift for capturing the essence of African American life in the South with her prose.
“Celebrating the Life and Work of Tina McElroy Ansa,” presented by retired journalist and professor Wanda Lloyd and moderated by writer and professor Jennifer Colatosti, will be the festival’s first of four panels.
Other panels include “What We See When We Read Children’s Books,” “Thomas Merton: A Bridge Between Two Worlds” and “Morris, Attaway and the Mississippi Delta: Literary Legacies and Landscapes.”
Events are free and in-person only at Decatur Library. To register, go to georgiacenterforthebook.org.
Credit: Melville Publishing House
Credit: Melville Publishing House
Speaking of lost voices: Many of us still feel the sting of President Jimmy Carter’s death last year. The comfort his kind words of wisdom brought to tumultuous times is keenly missed these days. Helping to fill that void, Melville House has published a collection of Carter’s interviews that span his public life, beginning with a spirited tete-a-tete with William F. Buckley Jr. in 1973 when Carter was governor of Georgia and Watergate was just coming to light.
“Jimmy Carter: The Last Interview and Other Conversations” (Melville House Publishing, $19.99) contains eight recorded conversations, including the controversial Playboy interview in 1976 and the news conference at the Carter Center where he disclosed his cancer diagnosis in 2015.
As the title promises, the collection closes with his last interview. It was conducted by Judy Woodruff in his native Plains in 2021. Carter was 96 at the time and accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn. The couple was celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary that week.
In that interview, Woodruff asked Carter what he was most proud of accomplishing during his presidency. His answer is a bittersweet reminder of a bygone era.
“We kept the peace, and we obeyed the law, and we told the truth, and we honored human rights. Those were things that were important to me.”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Back on the books. Fans of singer-songwriter Neko Case who were disappointed when her Feb. 1 appearance at Tara Theatre was canceled will be happy to know it’s been rescheduled for April 6. Case will talk about her harrowing but inspiring memoir “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You” (Grand Central Publishing, $30) with Virginia Prescott, former host of GPB’s “On Second Thought.” The event is presented by A Cappella Books. For tickets go to acappellabooks.com.
Credit: Blake Guthrie
Credit: Blake Guthrie
Lessons in storytelling. Jeff Keating, executive producer of the Peacock series “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” and founder of Doghouse Pictures multimedia production company, will be the keynote speaker at the Georgia Writers Association’s annual Red Clay Writers Conference on April 26 at Kennesaw State University.
The one-day event features workshops and panels on the art of writing and publishing in all genres, plus readings from recipients of the John Lewis Writing Grant, which recognizes and supports Black writers in Georgia. Participating authors include Garrard Conley, Anthony Grooms, Beth Gylys and Snowden Wright.
For details visit redclayconference.org.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
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