Thursday, November 18, 2010

Short Takes: Striving to Live Among Battering Forces

CHARLOTTE NC editors Heather Smith and Bill Graves appeared on WFAE Charlotte Talks Wednesday. Their event for the book that night at the Levine Museum of the New South drew more than 100 attendees. They were also interviewed for the Charlotte Business Journal.

SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE COMMUNITY COOKBOOK featured by Tasting Table and in Garden & Gun's Talk of the South newsletter.

Thoughtful piece by literary blogger Ron Slate on JACK LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHER: "London himself was always a story – and he comes across as a living presence among his photography. . . .This wonderful book, packed with London’s notes on the images he had taken so selectively, strongly communicates his unique humanity and his respect for people striving to live among battering biological and social forces."

Jennifer Jensen Wallach (CLOSER TO THE TRUTH THAN ANY FACT) named one of the History News Network's Top Young Historians.

The new Journal of Southern History includes reviews of WHAT VIRTUE THERE IS IN FIRE, GUTEN TAG, Y'ALL, and LATINO IMMIGRANTS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE U.S. SOUTH. On Shep Krech's SPIRITS OF THE AIR: "This remarkable book combines historical ornithology, environmental prehistory and history, and aboriginal world views regarding birds . . . . A momentous work."

Philadelphia Inquirer profiles Cave Canem Poetry Prize winner Iain Haley Pollock, whose book SPIT BACK A BOY will be available in spring. Inside Spelman covers a recent event with poets Kyle Dargan (LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA) and Natasha Trethewey (BEYOND KATRINA), including video of the reading.

Walter Reeves (The Georgia Gardener) recommends AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF GEORGIA.

The Southeastern Museums Conference awarded the Georgia Museum of Art a gold medal for their exhibition catalog LORD LOVE YOU: WORKS BY R.A. MILLER FROM THE MULLIS COLLECTION. The catalog for the James E. Routh, Jr. graphic works exhibition, THE SOUTH IN BLACK AND WHITE, was awarded a silver medal.

Heather Russell and LEGBA'S CROSSING at the Miami Book Fair this weekend.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Short Takes

New in paper and still hot: THE BIGNESS OF THE WORLD in the San Francisco Chronicle and THE OYSTER QUESTION on the Marc Steiner Show.

Time magazine on the SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE COMMUNITY COOKBOOK: "It's as much Americana as cookbook, an effort to preserve a vanishing part of our culture. Either way, it's an instant classic." Also in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, St. Petersburg Times, Dallas Morning News, and Winston Salem Journal. More food: on WDAV, Fred Sauceman on CORNBREAD NATION 5 and Dr. Enuf; CRAIG CLAIBORNE'S SOUTHERN COOKING on CNN's Eatocracy.

Orion magazine reviews FAMILY OF FALLEN LEAVES: "The first literary effort to embody, for a Western audience, the Vietnamese experience with the legacy of Agent Orange and its dioxin byproduct. . . . is welcome, if not long overdue. . . . the heavily researched introduction provides the needed historical, biological, and cultural context to sink right into these stories."

JACK LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHER in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat and the Newark Star-Ledger "London, who indelibly inspired visual artists (including book illustrators such as N.C. Wyeth), was himself a splendid photographer, as proven by the beautiful reproductions in this dazzling book of images."

Kyle Dargan and LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Poetry Daily.

Linda Grover (THE DANCE BOOTS) featured in an article on Native writers in the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

The Auk (from the American Ornithologists' Union) on THE BREEDING BIRD ATLAS OF GEORGIA: "So beautifully illustrated, it could be called a coffee-table book, but it is also a valuable reference." The AJC's Charles Seabrook on SALAMANDERS OF THE SOUTHEAST: "may inspire a greater appreciation for the fascinating creatures. The book is perhaps the most comprehensive and authoritative guide yet on the region’s salamanders."

New Pages praises SERIOUSLY FUNNY: "True to their promethean promise, 'there aren't many subjects that these poems overlook,' and Seriously Funny is stronger for it. Hamby and Kirby are astute editors, so the poems here comprise a wide variety of voices as well, avoiding an aural sameness or staleness that even the funniest of poems would evince if they all sounded exactly alike."

Upcoming events

Tuesday, November 16 @ 7:15 pm -- Atlanta, GA
SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE COMMUNITY COOKBOOK
Panel discussion at featuring Angie Mosier, past SFA Board President, with cookbook contributors Virginia Willis, Mike Klank, and Hugh Acheson
Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur Public Library

Wednesday, November 17 @ 4 pm -- Athens, GA
Annual Eidson lecture given by Jeanne Campbell Reesman, featuring JACK LONDON, PHOTOGRAPHER
265 Park Hall (Department of English), University of Georgia
Free and open to the public