Short Takes

Listen here for an interview with David L. Holmes, author of THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS. Holmes appeared on the April 21st episode of "With Good Reason." "With Good Reason" is produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Georgia, Alaska, California, and Michigan.

Congratulations to Stephen G. Hoffius and Susan Millar Williams! Their book, UPHEAVAL IN CHARLESTON, was just announced as a finalist for the 2012 SIBA Book Awards.

Congratulations to Lia Purpura! The Guggenheim Foundation has selected her as one of their 2012 fellows! Her book, INCREASE, is a lyrical, intensely personal depiction of the transforming experience of motherhood, and it was published by UGA Press in 2000.

At a recent Yale Law School event, Justice John Paul Stevens recommended Anne Emanuel's new book, ELBERT PARR TUTTLE, to the audience, claiming it changed his opinion about the implementation of Brown. “I have read the biography of Judge Tuttle, written by one of his former law clerks . . . and I commend it to everybody in the room to learn about what kind of a judge Elbert Tuttle was. He was really a surprisingly fine judge.” The video of the entire interview is available here. Justice Stevens' comments start at 24:56.

The Village Voice names BLOOMBERG'S NEW YORK as the Best Overlooked New York Book of 2011. 


The Daily Beast selects Erskine Caldwell's TOBACCO ROAD for its monthly series American Dreams: The 20th Century in Novels. Each month, columnist Nathaniel Rich writes about a single novel and the year it was published. TOBACCO ROAD is his pick for 1932. "As a comedy, TOBACCO ROAD is a modest failure; as a tragedy, it’s an abject failure. And yet Erskine Caldwell’s novel, 80 years after its publication, remains a giddy, obscene joy. It as indelible as a freak show or car crash."

Book Trailer for Megan Kate Nelson's new book, Ruin Nation

Megan Kate Nelson's RUIN NATION is the first book to bring together environmental and cultural histories to consider the evocative power of ruination as an imagined state, an act of destruction, and a process of change. During the Civil War, cities, houses, forests, and soldiers' bodies were transformed into "dead heaps of ruins," novel sights in the southern landscape. RUIN NATION examines the narratives and images that Americans produced as they confronted the war's destructiveness. This is the second book in the UnCivil Wars series.

UNCIVIL WARS is a series dedicated to new ways of seeing and telling the American Civil War. Authors in the series are encouraged to focus on unconventional social types and to think deeply about narrative strategy, telling their stories through memory, reverse chronology, snapshots and glimpses, multiple perspectives, or microhistory.

In the video below, Megan Kate Nelson gives a sneak-peek of her book. The video contains brief summaries of each of the chapters and features excerpts from historical documents. RUIN NATION will be available in May.

Upcoming Author Events

April 21, 2012

A FIELD GUIDE TO IMMERSION WRITING by Robin Hemley
Location: Hotel at Kirkwood Center
Cedar Rapids, IA
Time: 1:00pm
Description: Reading/Signing

EXIT, CIVILIAN by Idra Novey
Location: A Public Space
Brooklyn, NY
Time: 6:30pm – 10:00pm
Description: Book Launch

INVASIVE PYTHONS by Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Wilson
Location: North Carolina Zoo
Asheboro, NC
Time: 10:00am
Description: Talk/Signing – Michael E. Dorcas will be bringing a Burmese python.

 
April 26, 2012

THE ARCHITECTURE OF FRANCIS PALMER SMITH by Robert M. Craig
Location: Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, GA
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Description: Lecture/Signing/Reception





CURLED IN THE BED OF LOVE by Catherine Brady
Location: Bookshop West Portal
San Francisco, CA
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Reading/Signing

April 27, 2012

EXIT, CIVILIAN by Idra Novey
Location: Book Court
Brooklyn, New York
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Reading/Signing

April 30, 2012

BLUE RIDGE COMMONS by Kathryn Newfont
Location: Malaprop's Bookstore/Café
Asheville, NC
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Reading/Signing

May 3, 2012

DOING RECENT HISTORY edited by Claire Bond Potter and Renee C. Romano
Location: The New School, Room 510
New York, NY
Time: 6:00pm
Description: Panel/Signing – Panel will consist of Claire Potter, The New School for Public Engagement; Gail Drakes, NYU Gallatin School; and David Greenberg, Rutgers University; with David K. Rosner, Columbia University as moderator.

EXIT, CIVILIAN by Idra Novey
Location: Red Horse Café
Brooklyn, NY
Time: 7:00pm
Description: P.O.D. Reading/Signing in Park Slope

May 5, 2012

THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH by Charles Seabrook
Location: Heritage House
Ellijay, GA
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Description: Wild & Woolly Spring Fundraiser, Art & Nature Music Festival hosted by Georgia ForestWatch.

May 8, 2012

THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH by Charles Seabrook
Location: Manuel's Tavern
Atlanta, GA
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Talk/Signing with books for sale by A Cappella Books

ELBERT PARR TUTTLE by Anne Emanuel
Location: Newcastle
Atlanta, GA
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Description: Award/Talk/Signing – Anne Emanuel to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights. Register for the event by May 1st.

THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE REDNECK RIVIERA by Harvey H. Jackson III
Location: Anniston Star lobby
Anniston, AL
Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Description: Signing – Event co-sponsored by The Anniston Star and Longleaf Style.

May 9, 2012

CORNBREAD NATION 6 edited by Brett Anderson
Location: Octavia Books
New Orleans, LA
Time: 6:00pm
Description: Talk/Signing – Panel will consist of contributors Lolis Elie, Sara Roahen, Wayne Curtis, Bob Marshall, and David Grunberg.



May 16, 2012

RUMOR, REPRESSION, AND RACIAL POLITICS by Derek Musgrove
Location: Robin's Bookstore
Philadelphia, PA
Time: 7:00pm
Description: Reading/Signing


May 17, 2012

THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE REDNECK RIVIERA by Harvey H. Jackson III
Location: Capitol Book
Montgomery, AL
Time: 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Description: Reading/Signing



May 17-19, 2012

CORNBREAD NATION 6 edited by Brett Anderson
Location: Southern Food Writing Conference (17-18)
International Biscuit Festival (19)
Knoxville, TN
Description: Panel/Signing – Signing to be held on May 18th at 7:00pm in Crowne Plaza Knoxville's Square Room.

Location: Heirloom Book Company (19)
Charleston, SC
Time: 3:30-5:30pm
Description: Talk/Signing – Cornbread samples will be provided by Charleston chef, Sean Brock.

May 23, 2012

THE ARCHITECTURE OF FRANCIS PALMER SMITH by Robert M. Craig
Location: Georgia Center for the Book
Decatur, GA
Time: 7:15pm
Description: Reading/Signing - Part of the Decatur Arts Festival



May 30, 2012

THE FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS by David L. Holmes
Location: Piccolo Spoleto Literary Festival
Charleston, SC
Time: 3:00pm
Description: Talk/Signing

Short Takes

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "You can read [Charles Seabrook's ] THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH cover to cover, or dip into it at random, but be prepared to get hooked at any point. The Wild Georgia columnist is a most entertaining and knowledgeable tour guide. . ."

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE CITY, in a Suomen Antropologi review, is lauded as "remain[ing] the most influential work in critical urban geography precisely because it opened up the space for a more radical reading of urban processes."

Mark Moberg, in a recent copy of the Hispanic American Historical Review, called Oliver J. Dinius and Angela Vergara's COMPANY TOWNS IN THE AMERICAS a collection that "virtually redefines the study of company enclaves and will speak profoundly to scholars interested in the nexus of all aspects of work and daily life."

In a post on the blog On the Seawall, poet Jake Adam York praises fellow poet "Iain Haley Pollock's debut volume SPIT BACK A BOY. . . .[a]s a shapeshifter that keeps saying, in so many different ways, how varied, how complex the African-American poetic idiom is, how complex the American poetic idiom is."

Elbert Parr Tuttle's great-nephew, Henry W. Asbill, venerates Anne Emanuel in an issue of The Champion Magazine for her "inspirational biography" ELBERT PARR TUTTLE.

Amina Gautier, winner of the 2010 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, is reviewed along with three other fiction writers in the Spring 2012 edition of The Georgia Review: "[T]he stories in AT-RISK constitute a strong, promising performance and suggest that much more excellent work lies ahead. . . .Baxter, Sterling, and Gautier, in particular, write tales that are memorable precisely because they have an authentic texture that helps, in O'Connor's formulation, make actual the mysterious position of our lives on earth."

Picks for National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. Looking for something to read? Check out our wide selection of poetry titles!

New poetry books for Spring '12



EXIT, CIVILIAN by Idra Novey

"[S]uperb acts of attention, by a writer whose reliable moral sense matches her first-rate ear."--Publishers Weekly

New in paperback

WALDEN BY HAIKU by Ian Marshall
"An instant classic. Marshall illuminates the deeper logic and tone of Walden . . . entirely true to the spirit of Japanese haiku."--John Elder, author of FOLLOWING THE BRUSH

New in paperback

WINTER SKY: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, 1968-2008 by Coleman Barks

"This book is not the planned and ordered universe of Dante--it's mostly free verse and the organic story, in reverse, of a man trying hard to make sense of the universe and his place in it."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution





Select backlist

SERIOUSLY FUNNY: POEMS ABOUT LOVE, DEATH, RELIGION, ART, POLITICS, SEX, AND EVERYTHING ELSE edited by Barbara Hamby and David Kirby

HERE BE MONSTERS poems by Colin Cheney and selected by David Wojahn

STUTTER poems by William Billiter and selected by Hilda Raz

THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU by Andy Robbins

WEATHER by Dave Lucas

BLACK NATURE: FOUR CENTURIES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN NATURE POETRY by Camille T. Dungy

FOR THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL by John Casteen

IN THE WORLD HE CREATED ACCORDING TO HIS WILL by David Caplan

LOGORRHEA DEMENTIA: A SELF-DIAGNOSIS by Kyle Dargan

SPIT BACK A BOY by Iain Haley Pollock

Short Takes

Central Washington University Dean Marjorie Morgan interviews THE ACCIDENTAL SLAVEOWNER author Mark Auslander in this Arts & Humanities R Central video.

New Security Beat features the Woodrow Wilson Center's interview with Marc Sommers about his new book, STUCK.

Shelf Awareness features an op-ed by David L. Holmes, author of FAITHS OF THE POSTWAR PRESIDENTS.
 
Library Journal calls Idra Novey's EXIT, CIVILIAN "[s]tartling," and names Novey as one of the 14 New Poets for National Poetry Month.
 
CORNBREAD NATION 6, edited by Brett Anderson and John T. Edge, receives its first review from Edible Memphis, which said that the book is "[n]ot all for the serious, scholarly or scientific. . .[it] also brings humor and humanity to what could ultimately be the best on-going collection of food writing in America today."
 
The Civil War Monitor praises John Inscoe for his editorial prowess as the editor of THE CIVIL WAR IN GEORGIA and calls the book itself "seamless" and "sophisticated."
 
The Journal of Historical Geography calls COMPANY TOWNS IN THE AMERICAS, edited by Oliver Dinius and Angela Vergara, "vivid" and "well-researched," "an important, if not complete, contribution."
 
In the stunning new issue of The Bear Deluxe Magazine, Mark Hersey's MY WORK IS THAT OF CONSERVATION and Camille Dungy's BLACK NATURE garner reviews for their strength as socially and ecologically aware books.
 
In a recent issue of On Point Magazine, Melissa Ziobro hails Melissa McEuen's MAKING WAR, MAKING WOMEN for its ability to appeal to a wide range of audiences: "serious students of gender, military, and consumer history alike."

The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction 2012 competition is now accepting submissions

The Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction is now accepting submissions for the 2012 competition! Please visit our website for guidelines and more information. Manuscripts may be submitted until 9:00 a.m. on June 1st.

The Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction was established in the early eighties to encourage gifted emerging writers by bringing their work to a national readership. Since then, over 60 short-story collections have appeared in the series. Winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction include such widely read authors as Ha Jin, Antonya Nelson, Rita Ciresi, and Mary Hood.

This year’s competition will be judged by H. G. Carrillo, Susan Taylor Chehak, Kirsten Ogden, Edwin M. Steckevicz, Lori White, Gail Galloway Adams, and series editor Nancy Zafris. You can read more about each of the judges here.

The authors of the two winning manuscripts each receive a cash prize of $1,000 and their collections are subsequently published by the University of Georgia Press under a standard book contract.

Please note that we are only accepting electronic submissions for the 2012 competition. Our online submissions manager is available here.

For more on the 2011 winners:

Melinda Moustakis, author of BEAR DOWN, BEAR NORTH

In her debut collection, Melinda Moustakis brings to life a rough-and-tumble family of Alaskan homesteaders through a series of linked stories.

Amina Gautier, author of AT-RISK

Gautier’s stories explore the lives of young African Americans who might all be classified as “at-risk,” yet who encounter different opportunities and dangers in their particular neighborhoods and schools and who see life through the lens of different family experiences.