Southern Festival of Books

Oct. 8-10 at War Memorial/ Legislative Plaza

If you haven’t attended the Southern Festival of Books in the last decade, you’ve missed an opportunity to hear writers read, argue, and remind you of why books matter. Each October, the Tennessee Humanities Council gets authors, editors, illustrators, agents, and readers to converge for three days of shameless bookishness at War Memorial Plaza (which, in its meeting rooms underground, is still called Legislative Plaza). The 11th annual festival runs this Friday through Sunday. As always, there will be a mix of brand-name bestseller writers, world-class novelists, and an impressive array of locals. Sometimes these categories converge.

Following are a few highlights that we thought deserved special attention. This is by no means a complete schedule. All of the readings are followed by signings in a separate location. Note that there are readings, signings, and other activities for children and teenagers as well. For more information, check the Tennessee Humanities Council Web site, at http://www.tn-humanities.org.

Friday

Noon-1 p.m., War Memorial Auditorium

Scott Turow, best-selling author of Presumed Innocent and its successors, will read from and discuss his new legal thriller, Personal Injuries.

Noon-1:30 p.m., Room 12/14, Legislative Plaza

For 14 years, Shannon Ravenel, editorial director of Algonquin Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., edited the excellent annual series The Best American Short Stories. In 1986 she launched New Stories From the South. The 1999 edition begins with a sharp and funny essay by Vanderbilt professor and celebrated story writer Tony Earley, who distinguishes between serious writing about the South and mere cynical exploitation of regional clichés. Ravenel and Earley will be joined by Middle Tennessean William Gay, along with Tom Franklin and Tim Gautreaux.

12:30-1:30 p.m., House Chambers

Peter Guralnick, the music journalist who has turned himself into a literary biographer, recently published the final book of his two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Careless Love. He will be discussing it and his big new book, Elvis Day-By-Day.

1:30-2:30 p.m., Room 16, Legislative Plaza

Two mystery novelists, Gerald Duff and Steven Womack, discuss plot and local color and read from their new books. Duff, a former Vanderbilt English professor, recently published Memphis Ribs, starring a former cotton farmer turned Memphis homicide detective. Womack, who teaches screenwriting at Watkins Institute, is the author of the well-known series set in Nashville and starring private eye Harry James Denton. His latest case is called Murder Manual and involves the death of a Nashvillian who wrote a familiar-sounding piece of fluff called Life’s Little Maintenance Manual.

2-4:30 p.m., Room 12/14, Legislative Plaza

Tom Piazza, the New Orleans-based novelist and music writer, brewed up a firestorm two years ago with an Oxford American profile of bluegrass legend Jimmy Martin. Martin is apparently as eccentric as he is talented, and Piazza followed him on a bourbon-fueled rampage backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. The resulting tale was hilarious, forthright, and utterly human, the kind of unvarnished piece you never find in country-music journalism. Piazza has expanded it into a book, True Adventures With the King of Bluegrass (Vanderbilt/Country Music Foundation), that makes abundantly clear the author’s respect for his subject. —Jim Ridley

Piazza will be joined by two other music writers, Pete Stamper and Ben Sandmel. In his new book, Zydeco, Louisiana author Sandmel explores the dance music of Southwestern Louisiana’s French-speaking black population, which integrates R&B and Afro-Caribbean rhythmic elements into a vibrant musical montage. Balancing music criticism, historical perspective, and political/cultural analysis, Sandmel never bogs down in rhetoric or propaganda, yet he doesn’t duck thorny issues of race, class, and culture. —Ron Wynn

2:30-3:30 p.m., Room 16, Legislative Plaza

Surely one of the most entertaining hours at the festival will be the reading by Nashville-based humor columnist and author P. S. Wall, when she reads from her new book If I Were a Man, I’d Marry Me. She’s the author of the syndicated column “Off the Wall,” and of a previous collection, My Love Is Free...but the Rest of Me Don’t Come Cheap.

3:30-4:30 p.m., House Chambers

The festival is lucky to get Peter Matthiessen, author of books as diverse as the novel At Play in the Fields of the Lord and the nonfiction classic The Snow Leopard—not to mention co-founder of The Paris Review. He reads from his new novel, Bone by Bone, the third in the acclaimed trilogy that began with Killing Mister Watson and continued with Lost Man’s River.

5:30-9:30 p.m., Sheraton Hotel ballroom

Novelist Reynolds Price will deliver the second annual Robert Penn Warren Lecture on Southern Letters ($50 in advance, $60 at the door). The popular North Carolinian has become a near-fixture of the festival and will also be signing Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Saturday

9-10 a.m., Room 12/14, Legislative Plaza

Vanderbilt professor and critically acclaimed novelist A. Manette Ansay, author of several books, including Sister and River Angel, will read from and discuss her new novel, Midnight Angel. She will be introduced by Ann Patchett, another notable writer.

9-10 a.m., Room 30, Legislative Plaza

Probably Nashville’s most prolific writer, and surely one of the most versatile, Martha Hickman will talk about writing spiritual books for children and adults. Her books range from the adult novel Such Good People to the award-winning picture book And God Created Squash.

10-11:30 a.m., Room 12/14, Legislative Plaza

Four debut novelists discuss their work—Judy Goldman, Karen McElmurray, Josh Russell, and Sam Halpert. The only one we’ve read so far is Josh Russell’s amazing Yellow Jack, but he alone would be worth the time.

10-11 a.m., Room 29, Legislative Plaza

Father Goose himself, Charles Ghigna, will read from and discuss some of his many popular books for children.

11 a.m.-noon, House Chambers

Sena Jeter Naslund reads from her attention-grabbing new novel, Ahab’s Wife. Yes, it’s that Ahab, the one who was preoccupied with a certain pale whale, but this original new novel is more than literary homage.

Noon-1 p.m., House Chambers

Beginning as an acclaimed short story writer, Bobbie Ann Mason went on to become a novelist of note, with In Country and Spence + Lila. At the festival she will be reading from and discussing what may be her best book yet, Clear Springs, a vivid and funny memoir of growing up in Kentucky.

1-2 p.m., Room 16, Legislative Plaza

Since the publication of her controversial first volume, Satan Says, the poet Sharon Olds has colorfully deconstructed the American family romance with raw, take-no-prisoners narratives. Most recently the author of Blood, Tin, Straw, she’ll read with Daniel Halpern, whose newest verse collection is called Something Shining. The event will be introduced by Vanderbilt’s Kate Daniels, author of Four Testimonies and a manuscript-in-progress called My Poverty. Further attractions for poetry fans include a dual reading Friday with MTSU’s Gaylord Brewer and Charles Ghigna. —Diann Blakely

1-2 p.m., Room 12/14, Legislative Plaza

Popular children’s poet Jack Prelutsky reads from his amusing new book, The Gargoyle on the Roof.

1-2 p.m., Senate Chambers

Famous former Nashvillian Sam Pickering Jr. will read from his new essay collection, A Little Fling. Always candid and literate, Pickering remains one of our more charming essayists.

3-4:30 p.m., War Memorial Auditorium

Sisters in Crime, the national organization of female mystery authors, hosts a panel—which, if past experience is any indication, will be both informative and lively. Five writers will be in attendance: Jan Burke, Nora DeLoach, Nancy Bartholomew, Toni L. P. Kelner, and Anne Underwood Grant.

3-4:30 p.m., Old Supreme Court Room

Both Cathie Pelletier and her alter ego K. C. McKinnon are listed among the panelists who will discuss the ever hot topic of “Writing for Money.” Other panelists are Philip Marchand and Bob Minzesheimer.

Sunday

1-2 p.m., Room 30, Legislative Plaza

Vanderbilt professor Tracy Barrett reads from her new young-adult novel, Anna of Byzantium.

1-2 p.m., Old Supreme Court Room

Mary H. Manhein has written a fascinating little book about her experiences in a little-known profession, The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist. From facial reconstruction to examination of murder victims, this is a gross but engrossing—and witty—account.

1:30-2:30 p.m., Room 29, Legislative Plaza

Rob Simbeck tells the story of an amazing woman in his new biography, Daughter of the Air: The Brief Soaring Life of Cornelia Fort. He will discuss the aviatrix and read from the book.

1:30-2:30 p.m., Room 31, Legislative Plaza

With Outsider Art of the South, gallery owner and art scholar Kathy Moses has put together one of the most interesting art books in years. She’ll discuss some of the many artworks and artists covered in her wide-ranging and absolutely gorgeous book, from William Edmondson to Jesse Lee Mitchell.

3:30-4:30 p.m., Room 29, Legislative Plaza

Deborah Hopkinson, author of the critically acclaimed children’s books Clara and the Freedom Quilt and Birdie’s Lighthouse, will read from and discuss her beautiful new book based on the story of the Jubilee Singers, A Band of Angels.

Michael Sims and Diann Blakely are participants in this year’s Southern Festival of Books.