2009 Georgia Literary Festival

The 11th annual Georgia Literary Festival will be held in Rome on Saturday, October 17, 2009.

This will mark the first time the event, a "moveable feast" of the state’s literary heritage, will be held in the Northwest Georgia city.

The chair of the committee to plan for the festival is the Rome-based writer Raymond L. Atkins, author of the new novel, The Front Porch Prophet, and a well-known contributor to magazines and newspapers. Among the groups represented on the committee are the Sara Hightower Regional Library, the Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Rome Area Writers and the Rome Area Council for the Arts.

Four Georgia writers, all with connections to the Rome area, will be honored at this year’s festival. They are:

Calder Willingham (1922-1995), the late novelist and screenwriter, who was born in Atlanta but grew up in Rome. He wrote 11 novels and story collections including End as a Man and Gates of Hell; and wrote or co-wrote many screenplays including “The Graduate,” “Rambling Rose” and “Paths of Glory.”

Jeanne Braselton (1962-2003) won the Georgia Author of the Year Award for her first novel, A False Sense of Well Being (2001). She died in Rome in 2003, and her posthumous second novel, The Other Side of Air (2006), was completed by her close friend,. novelist Kaye Gibbons.

Anthony Grooms is a native of Virginia who has taught for many years at Kennesaw State University. His prize-winning books include novels (Bombingham), stories (Trouble No More) and poetry (Ice Poems). His books have been included on the Georgia Center for the Book “Top 25 List of Books all Georgians should Read.”

Melanie Sumner, who grew up in Rome, was named one of “America’s Best Young Novelists” in 1995 when her first book, Polite Society, appeared. Her stories have been widely published, and her second novel, The School of Beauty and Charm, was published in 2001 to acclaim.

Among the featured writers invited to participate in the Rome festival are:

Terry Kay, prize-winning Georgia Hall of Fame author of more than a dozen books including To Dance with the White Dog and The Book of Marie;
Lloyd Arneach, master Cherokee storyteller and author of several books including Long-Ago Stories of the Eastern Cherokees and Can You hear the Smoke?;
Raymond L. Atkins, short stories and novels (The Front Porch Prophet);
Tersi Bendiburg, bilingual storyteller from Tucker who tells stories gathered from her native Cuba;  
Earl Braggs, acclaimed poet (Hat Dancer Blue, Walking Back from Woodstock)
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, nonfiction author (Incandescence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics);
Vincent Coppola, former Newsweek correspondent and author of the new nonfiction book, The Sicilian Judge.
Lynn Coulter, essayist and gardening expert (Mustard Seeds, Gardening with Heirloom Seeds);
Elizabeth Dulemba, children’s author and illustrator (Paco and the Giant Chili plant);
Hollis Gillespie, essayist (Trailer Trash, Confessions of a Recovering Slut);
Lauretta Hannon, popular NPR commentator and Atlanta-based author of The Cracker Queen, a powerful memoir of a strong, resourceful woman raised in the South;
Akbar Imhotep, Atlanta-based storyteller and puppeteer of stories;
Natalie Jones, from Acworth, motivates youngsters to read and act out their own stories;
Mike Lester, children’s author and illustrator (A is for Salad);
Joshilyn Jackson, novelist (Gods in Alabama, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming);
Greg Johnson, short story writer and poet (Women I've Known: New and Selected Stories);
Cathy Kaemmerlen, Marietta storyteller and author of General Sherman and the Georgia Belles: Tales from Women Left Behind;
Gregg & Deborah Lewis, authors of dozens of books for children and adults; Gregg's include a best-selling biography of NFL coach Tom Landry;
Man Martin, Southern humorist (Days of Endless Corvette);
Sandra Meek, poet (Biogeography, Burn);
Robert J. Norrell, historian, nonfiction (Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington);
Helen Ruchti, Rome author of La Bella Vita: Daily Inspiration from Italy;
Kim Siegelson, prize-winning Atlanta author of books for young adults including Honey Bea and Trembling Earth;
Patricia Sprinkle, popular Atlanta mystery author whose bestsellers include Death on the Family Tree, Daughters of Deceit and When Will the Dead Lady Sing?;
Virginia Willis, cookbooks (Bon Apetit Y’All: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking).
John Yow, writer and editor from Acworth, whose new book is The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar Birds.

Vendors with books or book-related items are invited to apply for a table at the 2009 Georgia Literary Festival. The fee is $25 per 6-foot table. The application should be received no later than Sept. 30, 2009. There is limited indoor space available, so we urge you to apply early.

Please send your request with a description of the product you will be selling, along with your contact information, and a check for $25 per table made out to RACA. Mail it to RACA (Rome Area Council for the Arts), P.O. Box 203. Rome, GA 30162. If your application is not accepted, your check will be returned.

For additional information, write Raymond Atkins at raymondlatkins@aol.com. Thank you.

2010 Georgia Literary Festival

The 2010 Georgia Literary Festival will be hosted by the city of Statesboro, the Georgia Center for the Book announced.

Dates for the event will be announced later this year. The co-chairs planning the festival activities are Bede Mitchell, Dean of Libraries at Georgia Southern University, and Cora Fay, assistant director of the Statesboro Regional Library.