Abundant Goodness
Dangerous People
How Country Grew Up
‘When You’re Dead We’ll Cherish You Again’
Infinite Little Island
Chapter 16
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Focusing on the "Story" in History

Hampton Sides’s account of the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. reads like a James Ellroy novel

By Clay Risen |

April 27, 2010 Like certain songs and film plots, there are some stories in history—George Washington’s life, D-Day—that can be taken up again and again, stories so captivating that all it takes is a good writer to give them new life. Martin Luther King’s murder is one of them, and Hampton Sides is the writer to tell it. He will give a free public reading from the book at Memphis University School on April 27 at 7 p.m.

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Proof, Indeed

Pulitzer Prizewinner David Auburn mentors playwrights for Ingram New Works festival

By Serenity Gerbman |

April 26, 2010 David Auburn, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof, is the Ingram New Works Fellowship recipient, in town May 6-8 to mentor area playwrights and take part in readings of his new play The Columnist.

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Nuanced Noir

Ace Atkins’s historical thriller follows George “Machine Gun” Kelly on a kidnap caper gone wrong

By Michael Ray Taylor |

April 26, 2010 In summer 2008, Ace Atkins, author of three previous thrillers based on historical events, was in Memphis researching a new book. While he was at the courthouse one day, a clerk mentioned having stumbled across the file of George “Machine Gun” Kelly, who was arrested in South Memphis in 1933 after a nation-wide manhunt by the fledgling Federal Bureau of Investigation. Atkins was intrigued and asked for a copy of the file. By the time he was finished reading, he had set aside the novel he was working on in favor of what would become Infamous, a cinematic true story that reads like classic film noir with a dash of Coen brothers. Atkins will read from the book at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on April 26 at 6 p.m.

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Huck Twin

The heroine of Kristin O’Donnell Tubb’s debut children’s novel can stir up a mess of trouble

By Lacey Galbraith |

April 23, 2010 Autumn Winifred Oliver is eleven years old. She fidgets, speaks her mind, and has a talent for drawing. Her neighbors call her “rascally,” “rampageous,” and “up to no good,” but Autumn can’t help it; she’s restless, and most of all—as her creator, Kristin O’Donnell Tubb, clearly states in the title of this charming debut novel—Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different.

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Oprah's Top 10

The world’s best handseller picks her Top 10 of the decade

By Serenity Gerbman |

April 23, 2010 Somewhere in the back of the minds of most book lovers, there is probably a little corner labeled “Dream Jobs.” And among those jobs is the one that may not even really exist, but we like to think it exists, which is to sort through all of the books that come flooding daily into the offices of Harpo Enterprises. And, you know, take home the ones that look interesting. And read them. For Oprah.

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Roy and the Remainders

Roy Blount Jr. tours for a good cause

By Margaret Renkl |

April 22, 2010 Humorist and Vandy grad Roy Blount Jr., who is known both for his writing and for his NPR appearances on shows like Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me and A Prairie Home Companion, is on tour with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a garage band made up of bestselling writers Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Matt Groening, James McBride, and Mitch Albom. The band, founded in the early nineties, performs only once a year, on average, and not always with the same cast.

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