We like our characters in the South, and Maggi Vaughn was one of the great characters of our time. The Poet Laureate of Tennessee since 1995, Maggi was a poet, storyteller, songwriter, and art collector who lived out a big life in a small town. With her recent passing, we at Humanities Tennessee feel the loss of a member of the Southern Festival of Books family.
The Southern Festival of Books, one of the oldest and largest literary events in the country, expects to welcome more than 25,000 attendees for panel discussions, book signings, and readings. In addition to 100 sessions over two days, the festival features more than 100 vendors, as well as food trucks and three performance stages for music, theater, spoken word, and poetry, as well as programming for children.
Otis Sanford’s Newsman: The Road from Route 2 Box 9 surveys the author’s life from a childhood in rural Mississippi to a 50-year career in journalism. Sanford will appear at Bookstock at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis on May 2.
Jeremy Lloyd, an educator at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, writes about the many forms of sustenance to be found in the natural world in Forest Time: Footnotes to an Outdoor Education. Lloyd will appear at Tree Fest Knoxville on April 24, Flock Beer & Wine in Knoxville on April 28, and Neighborly Books in Maryville on May 6.
It was one of those perfect bluebird, big-sky Montana days. There was no wind. The temperature was warming, and the scent of sage was in the air. The river was big. I didn’t even know that streams that big and fast held trout. I was in a state of wonderment, and the river seemed mysterious, but in a good way. I was ready to begin solving the mystery.
David Dark’s Everyday Apocalypse finds revelation — and possibilities for challenging empire — in many layers of human experience and expression. David Dark will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on October 27 and Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 5.
