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2008 Southern Festival of Books
On October 10-12, Nashville will be temporary home to approximately 250 authors from across the nation. They are coming here because for twenty years thousands of readers of all ages and interests have welcomed them as part of the Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written WordSM.
Since the first Festival in 1989, when President Jimmy Carter and legendary historian Shelby Foote were on the program, the goal has been each year to welcome authors from diverse backgrounds and in diverse genres, with the expectation that anyone can come to the Festival and meet an author whose work they love, or to discover an exciting new voice.
As we prepare to celebrate this achievement, Humanities Tennessee staff and volunteers are working hard to ensure that this fall's 20th annual celebration of the written word is a particularly rich and memorable one. We are honored that approximately 100 authors have already made plans to be here to read, discuss and sign books, and the list will continue to grow over the coming weeks. We will post the first list of confirmed authors to our website around July 1. If you are a member of the Festival listserv or of the Southern Festival of Books page on Facebook, you will receive an announcement when the list is posted. And we will continue to add to that list over the summer.
We hope that you will be a part of the Southern Festival of Books whether as a volunteer (PDF, 197 kB; requires the free Adobe® Reader®), by making a donation, or attending the Festival. If you would like to book a hotel room for the Festival now, we have provided a list of discounted hotel blocks.
This event could not take place without your support and the participation of people who share with us a passion for books and for lifelong learning; we hope you will join us!
In the meantime, as you're putting together your summer reading lists and filling your vacation bags with books, we're focusing our Festival sneak preview on a few authors whose books are available now. Get a head start on your Festival reading with any or all of these outstanding books titles:
- Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
- Rick Bragg, The Prince of Frogtown
- Beth Ann Fennelly, Unmentionables
- Ellen Gilchrist, A Dangerous Age: A Novel
- Dana Jennings, Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music
- Billie Letts, Made in the U.S.A.
- Honor Moore, The Bishop's Daughter: A Memoir
- Ann Patchett, Run and What Now?
- Robert Rummel-Hudson, Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with his Wordless Daughter
Recent Visits from George Singleton and Lynne Berry
George Singleton came from South Carolina in support of the Festival during this bookfair week and read "Which Rocks We Choose," an amusing and intelligent short story about a Mississippi rock farmer taking a distance-learning course in Southern Culture at Ole Miss, Taylor. Though Singleton's stories will have you laughing, he has a way of stunning you with subtly fused sobering twists and details. He's someone you won't want to miss at the Southern Festival of Books in October.
Lynne Berry entertained children during story hour in support of the Festival on March 22 as she read from her delightful rhymes in Duck Skates. The book for very young children is charmingly illustrated and fun to read again and again. After story time, Berry then led the children in crafting their own fluffy ducks to take with them.
UPDATE: BOOK FESTIVAL RETURNS PERMANENTLY TO NASHVILLE
After four years of rotation between Nashville and Memphis, the twenty-year-old Southern Festival of Books will return to Nashville's War Memorial Plaza in 2008 and all future Festivals will remain in Nashville as well.
The annual Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word features more than 200 authors from around the nation and in every genre for presentations, readings, panel discussions and book signings and draws nearly 30,000 patrons annually.
"Holding the Festival in Memphis was a worthy attempt to serve Tennessee more broadly, but putting on the Festival in Memphis with a staff residing in Nashville was simply too hard to do well, and the strain of the rotation was putting the entire Festival in jeopardy. The folks in Memphis are great and couldn't have been more supportive, but we simply could not afford the year-round staffing presence that we learned we would need to have a successful Festival in Memphis," said Robert Cheatham, executive director of Humanities Tennessee.
In 2004 Humanities Tennessee, which produces the Festival, announced that it would hold the Festival in Memphis due in large part to major renovations being done at Nashville's War Memorial Plaza that rendered the traditional site of the Festival not usable for one year. The organization later announced that it would rotate between Nashville and Memphis, holding the Festival on even years in Memphis and odd years in Nashville.
Even though the Festival is moving to back to Nashville permanently, Humanities Tennessee will remain an active part of Memphis's literary, arts and cultural community.
The organization is working with the Assisi Foundation and the Memphis Public Library to pursue new literary partnerships and programs in the community.
Additional existing programs include:
- Spring author event honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All participating students will receive a complimentary copy of the author's book.
- Tennessee Young Writers' Workshop. A week-long workshop that provides students 8th–12th graders the opportunity to explore and develop their writing skills. Approximately 35 percent of participants are Memphians who receive scholarships to participate.
Humanities Tennessee is dedicated to developing a sense of community through educational programs in the humanities across Tennessee. The organization is multi-faceted non-profit that supports community history, cultural life and the studies of language and literature.
Other statewide program supported by Humanities Tennessee include the Tennessee Community History Program; the Smithsonian Museum's Museum on Main Street program; numerous grants and awards to museums, historical societies, libraries, teachers, schools and other small not-for-profits; youth education programs including the Tennessee Young Writers' Workshop and Letters about Literature.
The Southern Festival of Books is presented by Humanities Tennessee, a non-profit organization that promotes humanities education across Tennessee. The Festival is proudly sponsored by the National Endowment for Humanities, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Ingram, the Nashville Scene, the Frist Foundation, Davis Kidd Booksellers and Vanderbilt University.
The 2008 Southern Festival of Books will be held on Nashville's War Memorial Plaza October 10 through 12.
Thank you!
Thank you for your part in making the 19th annual Southern Festival of Books a true Celebration of the Written WordSM! We hope you enjoyed hearing from a wide range of talented writers, met new people and generated thought provoking discussion.
Looking for an author's name, book title or session featured at the Festival? The 2007 Festival schedule is still available online.
See you next year at the Festival's 20th anniversary celebration, October 10-12, 2008!
Want to be updated on other Humanities Tennessee events and programs throughout the year? Subscribe to Humanities Matters, our e-newsletter, by sending an email with the subject line "Subscribe to newsletter" to tim@humanitiestennessee.org.
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