I’m not going to start off with the pretense that this is an unbiased review. I have long thought Gilchrist to be one of the most talented writers of the second pantheon of Southern writers. She stood alongside the likes of Willie Morris, Walker Percy, Shelby Foote, and Barry Hannah and she more than held […]

Spent two days at the Welty festival, meeting artists, writers, scholars and the like. Had a wonderful time. Came home, went to the farm. Dealt with wild hogs wallowing out my crossings and a neighbor’s dog having a seizure. Also had a wonderful time (not the dog, I guess). Got home and found out that […]

If you need something to do this week head on up to Columbus, MS for the 25th Annual Welty Festival at Mississippi University for Women. Featured writers include China Grove alumni, Ellen Gilchrist, Michael Farris Smith, and Kendall Dunkelberg. Luke and I will both be up there, so come by and say, “Hi.” China Grove […]

Went down to see and interview Winston Groom, the author of Forrest Gump about his new book The Aviatiors and on all sorts of writerly, historic, and social subjects. In the next issue of China Grove. A great interview on tape, now all I have to do is write it. Updates to follow!

Great conference in Oxford over the weekend Neil White did a great job and is a great guy. Lots of good contacts and hope to receive some interesting submissions to pass on to our readers in coming issues. I felt that since there is the Gilchrist Prize for Short Fiction and the China Grove Prize […]

I have been absorbed in re-reading much of Ellen Gilchrist’s work in preperation for our interview this coming weekend. I spoke to her last week and she was telling me that a friend had suggested she read the play “Red” by John Logan and that she had read it repeatedly over the past few days. […]

Here is the blurb for the book I just edited and put together, it is coming out in November. This is one of the most difficult and intense acts of creation that I’ve ever undertaken, to create a whole from pieces that are not yours is extremely difficult. Coming up with the obscure bits that […]