The Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes in Columbus, Ms., from September 6 to 12, 2010, celebrates the playwright with scholarly panels, plays, tours and receptions. This is one of many events scheduled each year across the Southern Literary Trail.

The Southern Literary Trail is a collaboration of eighteen southern towns from Natchez to Savannah that celebrate internationally renowned writers and playwrights of the twentieth century who were inspired by their communities. Check their website frequently for an updated schedule of events.

The 5th annual Carolina Mountains Literary Festival

September 10-11, 2010

For the 5th year, the small town of Burnsville, North Carolina opens its doors to more than thirty authors and hundreds of book lovers during the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. The festival’s theme “Coming Home” guides the selection of participating authors. 

Programming includes a seventeen-county community book-read featuring the novels of Tony Earley (right). The event also includes scholar-led panel discussions, author readings, storytelling, how-to sessions on oral history, and special presentations designed for high school students as well as those interested in regional culture and the connections between literature and business.

Find a complete event schedule, list of participating authors, and registration information by visiting the website.

This event is supported by the North Carolina Humanities Council.

The 30th anniversary of John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, will be celebrated at Loyola University New Orleans during Wolfpack Welcome Aug. 23-27, the week of orientation for new students.

Loyola’s ties to the novel go back to the days when it was an unpublished work. While teaching in the English department at Loyola in 1976, noted Southern author Walker Percy was approached by the mother of a young, local writer who had committed suicide seven years earlier. The mother explained to Percy that in his career, her son had failed to find a publisher for his manuscript. After some persuasion, Percy read and saw promise in the piece and later used his influence to reintroduce it to publishers. As a result, A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 and Toole was awarded a Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1981. The novel also won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in ’81, alongside Percy’s novel, The Second Coming. (more…)

Suzanne Supplee was first recognized as a talented children’s author with her works Artichoke’s Heart and When Irish Guys are Smiling. When Dolly Parton read Supplee’s latest young adult novel, Somebody Everybody Listens To, she said, “Reading about Retta Lee Jones’s journey to Nashville was a lot like reading my own diary, except she had prettier boots.”

This month, Supplee graciously took time to talk to Southern Lit Review about her role as an author and the path that led to her publishing success.

In Somebody Everybody Listens To, Retta Lee Jones represents the dreamer in all of us. But, unlike most dreamers, she actually pursues her dreams – against all odds. Does her story relate to your desire to be a writer? If so, how did you find courage to seek publication?

Absolutely!  I think for most writers, real writers, writing isn’t really a choice.  Sounds cliché, I know, but I have to write.  And if I go too long without writing, I’m depressed and anxious and irritable.  Seeking publication is just a natural next step.  For all you writers out there, just remember this:  Somebody is going to publish a book.  Lots of people, actually.  Why shouldn’t you be among them?

Throughout the book, you include biographical information about successful country music artists. You also provide details about Retta’s feelings while performing publicly. Out of curiosity, are you a singer/musician? Have you ever performed onstage? (more…)

Suzanne Supplee’s latest release, Somebody Everybody Listens To (Dutton, May, 2010), will inspire readers to pick up a guitar and sing. With a quick, steady pace, and short, cleanly-written chapters, this young adult novel will appeal to readers of all ages, particularly those who ever dreamed of finding success in the country music industry.

Supplee’s story centers around a small town southern girl named Retta Lee Jones. She’s been the best singer in town as long as she can remember; but when she heads to Nashville after high school graduation, she feels like “just another fish in the barrel.”

Her sting of bad luck brings readers along a sometimes painful journey into the dark and dangerous world of stardom. Put a teenage girl on the streets with nothing but a guitar and see if she gets discovered. Add a dysfunctional family on the verge of destruction, a few run-ins with slimy characters and back alley criminals, a coveted pair of blue cowgirl boots in the window, and an ego that’s only one shred short of being splintered to the winds, and readers can’t help but root for Retta.

This book is a fun read. Quick. Easy. Charming. And inspiring. Ideal for parents to share with children who pick guitar until their fingers bleed (Taylor Swift) or aim to hit Nashville the day after graduation (Dolly Parton).

But readers also get a bonus, as this book is much more than just a fictional tale. With Supplee’s experience as a Country Music Association writer, it seems as if she’s giving readers the inside scoop on how to survive the Nashville game. She also includes interesting facts about famous country music artists, proving that, yes, dreams really do come true.