Short Takes

"The most endangered species native to Florida’s Panhandle and Alabama’s Gulf Coast might just be the redneck. . . . . THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE REDNECK RIVIERA is a fun romp through a place that has long been dedicated to fun but it also dips its toes into the cultural conflicts the region has experienced—a bit history, a bit social commentary and a good read."—Miami Herald

Your Day Radio recently interviewed THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH author, Charles Seabrook. Listen to the interview available here.

According to the Post and Courier, THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH "is highly recommended to anyone who shares our respect of the salt marsh and would like to learn about its biology and culture."

Want to know more about ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY? Check out the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Q&A with the authors.

Paranormal Georgia Investigations recommends ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY on their website and encourages readers to pick-up a copy of the book, especially if they are unable to visit Oakland Cemetery in person. "[A] wonderful journey through Atlanta’s history. . ."

The book launch event for ATLANTA'S OAKLAND CEMETERY will be this Sunday, July 1st, from 5:00-7:00pm at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. The event is free and open to the public, and it will feature a brief presentation, book signing, and guided tours.

On Saturday, June 30th, the Altamaha Riverkeepers will be hosting a launch event for the new book, ALTAMAHA. The event will feature a reception, reading, and book signing at historic Ashantilly in Darien at 2:00pm. Authors James Holland, Dorinda Dallmeyer, and Janisse Ray will be there to sign books. More information about tickets for the event can be found here.

Idra Novey, author of EXIT, CIVILIAN, will be reading at the Poets House Showcase on Saturday, June 30th. The event is free and open to the public, and it will start at 1:00pm. More information can be found here.

The literary magazine, Circumference, features a podcast with Idra Novey, focusing mainly on her translation practice. You can listen to the podcast here.

The San Antonio newspaper Plaza de Armas cites EXIT, CIVILIAN as the columnist describes what is like for a relative to be in prison. Conversations during a poetry workshop with Idra Novey both "influenced and informed" the column.

UGA Press Author on The Diane Rehm Show

James Cusick, author of THE OTHER WAR OF 1812, will be one of the guests on The Diane Rehm Show this Monday (June 18th). Be sure to tune in to listen to Cusick and the other panelists discuss the legacy of the War of 1812. Monday marks the bicentennial of the start of the war.

Described by the American Historical Review as being "[a] superb, highly readable history of events as seen in the local context," THE OTHER WAR OF 1812 resurrects a forgotten chapter in transatlantic history—the Patriot War. Prior to the war with Great Britain, a party of Georgians invaded a Spanish colony in East Florida confident that partisans there would help them swiftly wrest the colony away from Spain. The raid was a strategic and political disaster. Few sympathizers materialized, official U.S. support dissolved, and an extended guerrilla war ensued. This became the stage on which the young republic clumsily acted out its imperial ambitions and racial fears.

A New Biography of Craig Claiborne

The New York Times Sunday Book Review recently ran a review of a new biography about Craig Claiborne called THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE WAY WE EAT (Free Press), by Thomas McNamee. The review, while mentioning Claiborne's southern Mississippian roots, focuses on the years after Claiborne left the South. In fact, the only extended mention of Claiborne's southern heritage is in reference to his relationship with his mother, which ended early in his life when he told her he never wanted to see her again—a promise he kept, missing even her funeral. Her influence, however, was constant. Many of her recipes, and recipes from the kitchens in her Mississippi boardinghouse, found their way into the plethora of Claiborne's cookbooks.

SOUTHERN COOKING, new in paperback this year, not only features his mother's recipes, but is also the only one of Claiborne's cookbooks to focus exclusively on the South. Included are more than three hundred recipes, many of which he introduces with comments and notes about their history, their evolution over the years, and his favorite versions. One of his most personal cookbooks, readers have the opportunity to recreate the smells and tastes of the dishes that littered Claiborne's youth and commenced a lifelong passion for food in the man Jacques Pepin has called "the most important of all food giants."

Press author appointed as new U.S. Poet Laureate

The University of Georgia Press celebrates the appointment today of Natasha Trethewey as U.S. Poet Laureate for 2012-13.

UGA Press published her 2010 memoir, BEYOND KATRINA: A MEDITATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST. The book, which was recently published in in paperback, is also available as an ebook. Trethewey's poetry combines free verse with more traditional forms like the sonnet and the villanelle to explore the racial legacy of the American South. Trethewey's works of poetry include Domestic Work (2000), Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002),  and Native Guard, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007. Her fourth collection, Thrall, will appear in fall 2012.

Trethewey counts Robert Penn Warren among the inspirations for her work both in poetry and prose. In fact, Warren's SEGREGATION: THE INNER CONFLICT OF THE SOUTH, which the Press reissued in 1994, served as a model for BEYOND KATRINA. Coincidentally, Warren was the last U.S. poet laureate to hail from the South.

Trethewey will be the first-ever poet laureate to take up residence in Washington, D.C., and work directly in the Library of Congress's Poetry and Literature Center. Her term begins in September and coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of both the poet laureate position and the LOC's Poetry and Literature Center.