Upcoming Events

As October comes to a close, we enter the perfect time of year to curl up by the fire with some hot chocolate and a good book. If your reading list is lacking some fresh, interesting titles, be sure to check out these upcoming events by our authors for some riveting new reads!

Thursday, October 30

4:00 PM

FAULTY PREDICTIONS by Karin Lin-Greenberg

Location: The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH

Description: Reading

Friday, October 31

11:15 AM

AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney

Location: Columbus, MS

Description: Decorative Arts and Preservation Forum talk: "American Afterlife: Cemeteries in Victorian and Modern Context"

Sunday, November 2

2:00 PM

REVOLUTIONIZING EXPECTATIONS by Melissa Estes Blair

Location: Morris Book Shop, Lexington, KY

Description: Book release

Sunday, November 2

4:00 PM

URBAN ORIGINS OF AMERICAN JUDAISM by Deborah Dash Moore

Location: National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA

Description: Talk/Signing: "Why Does Jewish History Matter to American History?"

Sunday, November 2

6:00 PM

BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE by Monica McFawn

Location: Underground Wonder Bar, Chicago, IL

Description: Reading

Thursday, November 6

7:15 PM

SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH by Leslie M. Harris and Daina Ramey Berry

Location: Dekalb County Public Library (Decatur branch), Decatur, GA

Description: Talk/Signing

Thursday, November 6

8:00 PM

BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE by Monica McFawn

Location: Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI

Description: Reading

Thursday, November 6

8:00 PM (doors at 7:00 PM)

AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney

Location: Atlanta, GA

Description: The Letters Festival reading

Friday, November 7

3:00 PM

PENN CENTER by Orville Vernon Burton

Location: Penn Center, St. Helena Island, SC

Description: Penn Center Heritage Day Symposium book release

Friday, November 7

3:00 PM

BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE by Monica McFawn

Location: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

Description: Reading/Talk

Sunday, November 9

9:00 AM

URBAN ORIGINS OF AMERICAN JUDAISM by Deborah Dash Moore

Location: Center for Jewish History, New York NY

Description: Talk/Signing: "WWI and the Jews"

Monday, November 10

7:00 PM

URBAN ORIGINS OF AMERICAN JUDAISM by Deborah Dash Moore

Location: University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

Description: Reading/Signing

Tuesday, November 11

3:00 PM

GEORGIA WOMEN, VOLUME 2, edited by Kathleen Ann Clark and Ann Short Chirhart

Location: University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Description: Talk/Signing, part of UGA's Spotlight on the Arts Festival

Wednesday, November 12

7:00 PM

GEORGIA WOMEN, VOLUME 2, edited by Kathleen Ann Clark and Ann Short Chirhart

Location: Margaret Mitchell House, Atlanta, GA

Description: Talk/Signing

Thursday, November 13

10:00 AM

COURTHOUSES OF GEORGIA, by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia

Location: Houston County Courthouse, Perry, GA

Description: Book release

Thursday, November 13

7:00 PM

BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE by Monica McFawn

Location: Nicolas Books, Ann Arbor, MI

Description: Reading/Signing

Saturday, November 15

Time TBA

URBAN ORIGINS OF AMERICAN JUDAISM by Deborah Dash Moore

Location: Ann Arbor Jewish Community Center, Ann Arbor, MI

Description: Preview for Jewish Book Fair reading/signing

Monday, November 17

7:15 PM

GEORGIA WOMEN, VOLUME 2, edited by Kathleen Ann Clark and Ann Short Chirhart

Location: Dekalb County Public Library (Decatur branch), Decatur, GA

Description: Talk/Signing

Tuesday, November 18

Time TBA

THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS by Julian Hoffman

Location: London Review Bookshop, London, United Kingdom

Description: Reading/Signing

Wednesday, November 19

6:30 PM

THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS by Julian Hoffman

Location: The Queen's Head, Piccadilly Circus, London, United Kingdom

Description: Reading/Signing

Wednesday, November 19

Time TBA

URBAN ORIGINS OF AMERICAN JUDAISM by Deborah Dash Moore

Location: West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center, West Bloomfield, MI

Description: Scholar's Day at Jewish Book Fair reading/signing

Thursday, November 20

7:00 PM

BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE by Monica McFawn

Location: Center for Fiction, New York, NY

Description: Live book trailer performance

Saturday, November 22

Time TBA

THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS by Julian Hoffman

Location: Kendal, Cumbria, United Kingdom

Description: Kendal Mountain Festival reading/signing

Tuesday, November 25

Time TBA

THE SMALL HEART OF THINGS by Julian Hoffman

Location: The Book Case, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Description: Reading/Signing

Event for Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Vol. 2

Through history, southern women have often been more than the demure belles and sweet Georgia peaches that many frequently think - and the editors of a new volume about women's roles in Georgia history will speak about these dynamic trailblazers on Nov. 11 at the University of Georgia Richard B. Russell Special Collections Library.

The talk, "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Georgia Women Shape the Twentieth-Century" will feature Kathleen Ann Clark, an associate history professor at the University of Georgia, and Ann Short Chirhart, associate history professor at Indiana State University. The professors will discuss their collection, GEORGIA WOMEN: THEIR LIVES AND TIMES, VOL. 2 at 3 p.m. in Room 285 of the Russell Special Collections Building. This event is free and open to the public.

GEORGIA WOMEN, VOL. 2 delves into the vital roles women played in twentieth-century Georgia, further detailing the contributions of commonly known women such as Coretta Scott King and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, as well as highlighting lesser-known figures such as World War II aviator Hazel Raines and carpet entrepreneur Catherine Evans Whitener. The comprehensive collection of essays, published by the Press, is part of the Southern Women: Their Lives and Times series, which focuses on the lives of individuals that address larger issues and gender roles in the histories of various southern states and the nation.

"Women were leading actors in the 20th-century developments in Georgia, yet most histories minimize their contributions," said Lisa Bayer, director of the Press. "Collectively, the life stories portrayed in this volume deepen our understanding of the multifaceted history of not only Georgia women but also the state itself."

Further praise for GEORGIA WOMEN, VOL. 2 comes from Dr. Rebecca Sharpless, history professor at Texas Christian University and author of Cooking in Other Women's Kitchens: Domestic Workers in the South, 1865-1960, who commends, "An amazing group of women shine forth in this collection of essays. They represent the best of Georgia in the twentieth century, from the farm to the city; in the classrooms, the arts, and the halls of law; and on the streets fighting for justice. Georgia women have brought significant vitality and change to their home state, and their stories come together brilliantly in this volume."

A reception will follow the talk, and copies of both volumes of GEORGIA WOMEN will be available for purchase. Parking is available at the Hull Street Deck and at the Tate Center Deck, or access is available via free public transportation through UGA Campus Transit.

This event is part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts festival and is co-sponsored by the UGA Libraries and UGA Press. For more information, contact Amanda Sharp at asharp@uga.edu or at 706-542-4145.

Short Takes

Sarah Gorham, author of STUDY IN PERFECT, is best known for poetry books. In an interview with WFPL 89.3, she explains how she transitioned from poems to essays:

I started a series of poems called 'Study in Perfect,' prose poems, and some of them were page-long prose poems, and I realized they were closer to lyric essays, so I just went with the idea. That's where I am now. It's a much more relaxed form. It's a very natural form for me.

Publishers Weekly gives Monica McFawn's BRIGHT SHARDS OF SOMEPLACE ELSE a positive review: "Bursts of insight illuminate these carefully crafted tales; McFawn somehow wrenches the deepest humanity out of even the most unlikable characters."

In an interview with the Newnan Times Herald, Joe Cook talks about his research for the newly-released CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE, the second book in the Georgia River Network Guidebooks series.

'People are returning to the river. It’s such an exciting story, and it’s inspiring, because we have taken a stand, as a community, and said we’re not going to put up with this anymore,' Cook said. 'We want a clean river and we’re getting a clean river.'

In Athens this coming Wednesday (10/22) and have nothing on your calendar? Then be sure to attend the "Who Owns Water" premiere with director David Hanson at Cine from 6:30-9:00. Avid Bookshop will be selling copies of CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER USER'S GUIDE, which author Joe Cook will be signing. Hors d'oeuvres will be provided by The National, and tickets are $7.50. Pickup your ticket at Cine or online. More information is available here. Flagpole also has more information about the event available here. The event is sponsored by the UGA Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, the UGA Press, and Georgia River network.

Not Even Past interviews Leslie M. Harris and Daina Ramey Berry about their new book, SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH. Check out the interview with accompanying images here.

Congratulations, Leslie M. Harris and Daina Ramey Berry! SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN SAVANNAH has won one regional and one national award. The regional award focused on the exhibits aspect of the project, as the Southeastern Museums Conference recognized it in its annual competition, which focuses on the interchange of ideas, information, and cooperation. The national award honored the complete project and was given by the American Association for State and Local History. Its Leadership and History Award is its most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history. Telfair Museums has more information about the awards available here.

Congratulations, Linda LeGarde Grover! Her book, THE DANCE BOOTS, has been selected as the Duluth Public Library's One Book, One Community winner. The public voted online through the Duluth Public Library's website, its Facebook and Twitter feeds, and on paper ballots at local libraries and bookstores throughout the region.

Goodreads Giveaway x 3

We're giving away three different titles on Goodreads. Enter now to win an advance reader's copy of PENN CENTER, TYRANNICIDE, or ZERO TO THREE. Links to enter are below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Penn Center

by Orville Vernon Burton

Giveaway ends October 21, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Win one of two ARCs!

“This is an extraordinary book. It is the most complete history of Penn Center that has ever been written. Many stories and famous academic accounts have been concerned indirectly with Penn Center over its 150-year history, but this book goes straight to the heart.”—from the foreword by Emory S. Campbell, former director of Penn Center

Recounting the past 150 years of the Penn Center, Orville Vernon Burton and Wilbur Cross’s PENN CENTER is the first comprehensive study of the Penn School which was established on St. Helena Island, South Carolina in 1862 to provide a formal education for formal slaves. In later years, the school expanded to become Penn Normal, Agricultural and Industrial School and later a safe meeting place for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as well as the Peace Corps. Today, Penn Center serves as a social services hub and museum.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tyrannicide

by Emily Blanck

Giveaway ends October 31, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Win an ARC!

Uncovering the all-but-forgotten legal battle over escaped slaves who were transported from South Carolina to Massachusetts on a British ship during the American Revolution, TYRANNICIDE examines how African Americans sought freedom and how white Americans in South Carolina and Massachusetts responded to this quest for freedom by writing diverging slave law between 1765 and 1789. The law they wrote began to solidify the division of America between free and slave states and would later be etched into the Constitution.

While many books discuss slavery in the Constitution and during the American Revolution, no other book highlights the story of the Tyrannicide affair, brings out the dynamic between national and local politics in developing a state’s law on slavery, or ties the specific contexts of slavery during the Revolutionary War to the writing of the slavery provisions of the Constitution.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Zero to Three

by F. Douglas Brown

Giveaway ends October 22, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Win one of two ARCs!

Tracy K. Smith, author of Life on Mars and winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, selected F. Douglas Brown's ZERO TO THREE as the winner of the 2013 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

The poems in ZERO TO THREE focus on parenting and, more specifically, fatherhood in the midst of difficult situations and current events, such as Travyon Martin, Hurricane Katrina, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. ZERO TO THREE refers to the developmental period (conception to toddler age) that many clinicians and pediatricians believe is the most fundamental period for children whose delicate brains are undergoing drastic and formative change. Research also shows that parents, too, undergo formative change during this period alongside their children. ZERO TO THREE celebrates pop culture and family and laments the anguish and frustration of a parent losing a parent or a parent losing their temper, all while rejoicing in the fact that parenting is a wonderful mystery to witness.