Nonfiction

“Oh how I wish I had had this book as a young singer! Dr. Mabry has used a wonderful mix of practical advice and memoir to underscore her astute insights into the minefield we call performance. EVERY performer should read this ‘performance bible’ before beginning a career and whenever faced with new challenges in that career. Thank you, Dr. Mabry, for enlightening us all.”

“For centuries, great artists have been drawn together in friendship and in love. In Artists in Love, curator and writer Veronica Kavass delves into the passionate and creative underpinnings of the art world’s most provocative romances. From Robert and Sonia Delaunay to Gilbert & George, Kavass’ intimate and daring text provides a generous glimpse into the inspiring and sometimes tempestuous relationships between celebrated artists throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.”

“America’s first blind professional fisherman, Mike Lorance, shares the intimate details of his amazing life, from the national acclaim he garnered for saving a family of four from drowning while he was a child to learning to cope with the personal and professional challenges of going blind. His successes and failures and eventual peace within his life are shared here in his own words.”

“A master wine writer at the top of his class… ‘Is Jay McInerney the world’s best wine writer?’ The Guardian asked recently. After reading his last collection of wine essays, I would have to argue that he is certainly the most entertaining.”

“Drawn mainly from the centennial anniversary symposium on James Agee held at the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2009, the essays of Agee at 100 are as diverse in topic and purpose as is Agee’s work itself. Often devalued during his life by those who thought his breadth a hindrance to greatness, Agee’s achievements as a poet, novelist, journalist, essayist, critic, documentarian, and screenwriter are now more fully recognized. With its use of previously unknown and recently recovered materials as well as established works, this groundbreaking new collection is a timely contribution to the resurgence of interest in Agee’s significance.”

“This book establishes that Horton Foote’s characters and themes come from Wharton, Texas, a region influenced more by the Deep South than the cowboy tradition of West Texas. But these interviews also establish that such stories are not place-specific. They are universal stories about going away and the eternal search of emotional and spiritual homes. Foote’s stories are revealed as reflecting the dislocation, loneliness, racial tension, and gender and class divisions of the United States.”