Southern Lit Alliance Announces Line-Up Of New South Bound Lecture Series

Rick Bragg Is First Speaker Jan. 21

  • Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Southern Lit Alliance announces the line-up of South Bound: Distinguished Lectures. This premiere program from the newly energized organization features renowned and emerging writers of recently released titles, said officials. 

The series will kick off with headliner Rick Bragg on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. My Southern Journey, a collection of Mr. Bragg’s best essays about the South, was released this fall.

The event schedule consists of a “happy hour” with Mr. Bragg for VIP ticket-holders at 4 p.m., a book signing at 5 p.m., followed by his reading at 6 p.m.  Please note that there will be no book signing after the presentation as Mr. Bragg is the special guest of a fundraising dinner for Southern Lit Alliance at Easy Bistro beginning at 7:30 p.m. 

General admission tickets begin at $50. There is a student ticket available for $30. VIP tickets, which include happy hour, reserved seating, and fast track super powers at the book signing are $75. Tickets for the So Lit Dinner with Bragg cost $150 and include a hardback copy of My Southern Journey, drinks, and a five-course dinner prepared with local ingredients at Easy
Bistro on Broad Street. 

Mr. Bragg won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times. Mr. Bragg is the author of three bestselling memoirs, All Over But the Shoutin’, Ava’s Man, and The Prince of Frogtown. Most recently he has published Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story, a biography of the famous rock and roller, and My Southern Journey, a collection of his best
essays about the South. 

Mr. Bragg became a domestic correspondent in the Atlanta office of the New York Times in 1994. In his reporting he has covered murders and unrest in Haiti, the Oklahoma City bombing, and more. Besides his Pulitzer Prize, he is the recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award and 31 other national, regional, and state writing awards. He is now a writing professor at the University of Alabama’s journalism program in its College of Communications and Information Sciences. 

In February, to celebrate Black History Month, Pulitzer Prize finalist Adrian Matejka will read from his acclaimed poetry collection The Big Smoke. The poems trace the life and times of Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight-boxing champion during Jim Crow. In March, Tom Franklin, bestselling author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, and his wife Beth Ann Fennelly will deliver a presentation of their coauthored mystery novel The Tilted World—a tale about love and moonshine in Mississippi. Also featured in the South Bound line-up is Claire Vaye Watkins, whose first novel Gold Fame Citrus is an Indie Next pick and has already garnered much attention from publications such as the New York Times and Vogue. Harrison Scott Key, comedian and author of the memoir The World’s Largest Man, will close the lecture series on May 20.

All South Bound presentations, with the exception of Rick Bragg, will be hosted in the new Arts Building located on the corner of 11th and King Streets at 301 E. 11th St. 

In addition to providing presentations, South Bound lectures are tied to So Lit outreach programs. Writers that participate in the series will also visit a local high school classroom to conduct a Q & A session or workshop as part of So Lit’s Writers in Classrooms program. Alternatively, writers are special guests of private fundraising dinners, the proceeds from which benefit all So Lit outreach programs. 

Individual tickets and season subscriptions are available now. To purchase tickets and view the
line-up and schedule, please visit So Lit’s newly designed website: www.SouthernLitAlliance.org, or call 267-1218.

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