We welcome two more talented Georgia authors with their wonderful new first novels. Marc Fitten is the very gifted editor of Chattahoochee Review whose novel Valeria’s Last Stand is a comic feast set in 1990s Hungary. Laleh Khadivi is the author of The Age of Orphans, a novel acclaimed already as a “stunning” work of great originality framed in graphic, poetic language. This program was originally recorded on April 28th, 2009 at the Decatur Library.
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We welcome two wonderfully talented Georgia authors who are celebrating their first novels. Sandra Novack’s new novel Precious is a novel you won’t soon forget, a lyrical, finely crafted story about family love, its costs and its consequences. Susan Rebecca White is the Atlanta-born author of Bound South, a delicious, compelling story of the clash of women caught between old-fashioned Atlanta traditions and 21st century reality.
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Byron Pitts, correspondent for the highly-rated CBS television news program “60 Minutes,” has written a memoir that is at once a story of success and defying the odds. Step Out On Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Overcome Life’s Obstacles, is a powerful memoir that chronicles his rise from a stuttering black kid in an inner city neighborhood to a premier television journalist. Pitts’ story will resonate with those who have struggled with their own challenges. Byron Pitts was interviewed by WSB-TV’s Monica Pearson at the Decatur Library on October 13, 2009.
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Donald Ray Pollock reads from his compelling, gritty novel, Knockemstiff, which author Chuck Palahniuk calls one of his favorites. It’s a “poignant and raunchy account of his Ohio hometown’s sad and stagnant residents,” and the story “spans 50 years of violence, lust, failure and depravity.” Fans of Palahniuk won’t want to miss this podcast episode!
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Sandra Mackey, prize-winning veteran journalist and author of the national bestseller, The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein, discusses her latest book, Mirror of the Arab World: Lebanon in Conflict. Critics call her book a “timely, incisive guide to the complexity of the brewing conflict in Lebanon and what it will mean for the Middle East.” Mackey’s book serves as a clarifying lens for viewing the broad picture of today’s challenging Arab world. This recording was made at the Decatur Library on April 2, 2009.
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Laurie Halse Anderson, one of America’s most popular and honored young adult authors, visits us to talk about her eagerly anticipated new novel, Wintergirls. “In this, her most wrenching, lyrically-written book since the multiple-award-winning Speak, Anderson explores Lia’s descent into anorexia and her painful path to recovery.” Anderson’s other books include Prom, Twisted and Fever 1793. This recording was made on March 31, 2009 at the Decatur Library.
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Patti Digh, an internationally known blogger, has a new powerful book, Life is a Verb, drawn from a blog she created after the death of her step-father from cancer. Given only 37 days to live after his diagnosis, her father’s death prompted her to wonder what she would do with her life in that short time. Her book is part-memoir, part how-to, and it will touch your heart deeply. This recording was made on March 30, 2009 at the Decatur Library.
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Julie Buckner Armstrong, is one of the editors of a superb new anthology from the University of Georgia Press, The Civil Rights Reader: American Literature from Jim Crow to Reconciliation. The book, which contains fiction, drama, essays and poetry, insightfully captures the cultural and literary history of African-Americans’ struggle for freedom. Special guests include prize-winning author Anthony Grooms and Connie Curry.
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Doug Egerton, professor of history at LeMoyne College, offers a sweeping chronicle of African American history in his book Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America. Stretching from Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War to the election of slaveholder Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800, Edgerton shows the scope to which slavery was woven into American daily life. Egerton highlights the will and determination of slaves, freed blacks and white reformers through the narrative and compelling portraits of their lives. A rich and comprehensive history that should not be missed!
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Kathryn Stockett, Mississippi-born author now living in Atlanta, unveils her first novel, The Help, already being hailed by critics as a “contemporary classic.” It’s an unforgettable novel of three women and the crossing of racial barriers in 1960s Mississippi, a “timeless and universal story.” Joining Stockett will be Octavia Spencer, an Atlanta actor, who will take part in the program. This program was originally recorded on February 10th, 2009.
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