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Author: Lisa Harrison

Rheta Grimsley Johnson on gratefulness during a time of uncertainty

Popular NewSouth author and nationally syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson favors us with a striking and poignant read given the recent events in San Bernardino. In “Thankful for Small Moments of Peace,” the column illustrates Johnson’s determination to celebrate a restful and restorative Thanksgiving among friends. She lists many things for which she gives thanks, from Bradford pears through books read and music enjoyed …

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December 11, 2015 No Comments

In Memoriam: Sabbath Country poet Charles Semones, 1937-2015

Kentucky poet Charles Semones died on September 13, 2015. He was 78. Although he lived in Harrodsburg in his latter years, he was originally from the Deep Creek community of Mercer County, Kentucky, west of Harrodsburg, a rural landscape of stark ridges and hollows which informed much of the writer’s work. He was the author of And All the Layered Light: Last Poems, published in NewSouth Books’s “The Conecuh Series” in 2007 …

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October 8, 2015 No Comments

Randall Williams remembers author, friend Wade Hall

NewSouth Books co-founder and editor in chief Randall Williams eulogized his friend author Wade Hall, who passed away on September 26, in an article for the Montgomery Advertiser. NewSouth Books published five titles by Hall: Conecuh People: Words of Life from the Alabama Black Belt, An Interview with Abraham Lincoln, Waters of Life from the Conecuh Ridge: The Clyde May Story, Reflections of the Civil War in Southern Humor, and The Outrageous Times of Larry Bruce Mitchell. Due out in spring 2016: Greetings from Alabama: A Pictorial History in Vintage Postcards, which showcases 400 plus postcards from a large bequest Hall made to the University of Alabama Libraries. Hall’s many gifts as scholar, writer, educator, and philanthropist are warmly recounted in Williams’s piece …

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October 1, 2015 No Comments

Forsaken by Ross Howell Jr.: in anticipation of Feb. 2016 release, book appearances, book trailers, more

February 2016 isn’t far off, at least in book publishing terms. With the release of Forsaken around the corner, the hard work of promoting the book begins. For author Ross Howell Jr., this includes a book tour before his official book tour, which started with his appearance last weekend at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance big fall conference — SIBA’s 40th …

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September 28, 2015 No Comments

Crooked Letter i authors talk coming out in the South at Decatur Book Festival and with Georgia Public Radio

Crooked Letter i had its public launch at the Decatur Book Festival, where book contributor and festival panelists Susan Benton, Christina Holzhauser, B. Andrew Plant, Ed Madden, and James Villanueva participated in a lively and thought-provoking discussion about coming out in the South. Thanks to the Decatur Book Festival organizers for arranging for such a great kick-off event …

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September 22, 2015 No Comments

Steve Flowers’s new book, Of Goats & Governors, finds enthusiastic reception by political and business leaders

Talking politics is a favorite Alabama pastime. At long last, a generation’s worth of tales “you couldn’t make up if you tried” has been collected and delightfully recounted by Alabama’s leading political commentator, Steve Flowers. Of Goats & Governors: Six Decades of Colorful Alabama Political Stories, just published by NewSouth Books, is off to a stellar launch with Governor Robert Bentley among its first readers …

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August 25, 2015 No Comments

National Trust for Historic Preservation names Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee to its End of Summer Reads list

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African-American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington, by Dr. Ellen Weiss, to its “End of Summer Reads for the Preservation Buff” list on their PreservationNation blog. The blog recommends the book for “those who like their history with a heaping helping of social context.” The list of 14 titles includes classics as well as recently published works. Inclusion as a favorite by the National Trust is an honor for Dr. Weiss …

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August 21, 2015 No Comments