Alabama Air National Guard’s role in Bay of Pigs recalled in Wings of Denial, reissued for 50th anniversary
April 19, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. In connection with the anniversary, NewSouth Books has reissued Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard’s Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs by Warren Trest and Don Dodd. Told within the larger story of bureaucratic bungling and indecision at the highest levels in Washington, Wings of Denial is a tribute to a group of unsung Alabama heroes — Air National Guard volunteers who trained the Cuban freedom fighters and then flew into combat in a desperate attempt to save them when the CIA-backed invasion failed. Four of the guardsmen made the ultimate sacrifice, a closely guarded secret these many years. This is their story …
A Yellow Watermelon “lucky” read for GoDaddy.com student award winner
Lauren Bradford, a 10-year-old student at Gulf Shores Elementary School, has won a $10,000 savings bond in the 10th annual HOAR Construction/Go Daddy.com Bowl Reading and Writing Program, thanks in part to an essay on A Yellow Watermelon by Ted Dunagan, published by NewSouth Books …
Ethel Hall, first African American AL Board of Education President, praised for new book
Dr. Ethel Hall, author of My Journey: A Memoir of the First African American to Preside Over the Alabama Board of Education, was praised by several newspapers for her commitment to quality education for the state’s children. In his column for the Birmingham News, John Archibald noted Hall’s legacy as one of concern for children over all other considerations …
Senator Lister Hill subject of memoir published 50 years later
Recent articles in The Gadsden Times and The Montgomery Advertiser praised the new memoir A Senator’s Wife Remembers: From the Great Depression to the Great Society, noting its importance for Alabama political history. The book has an unusual gestation, being a memoir composed of a manuscripts and letters written by the wife of the late Senator Lister Hill and compiled and edited by her daughter, who discovered the materials in a box in the attic of the Hills’ Eufaula home …
Ted Dunagan received warmly by 1,000 schoolchildren on south Alabama tour
Young adult author Ted Dunagan recently concluded an exhilarating two weeks of presentations at schools and libraries in south Alabama, speaking to over 1,000 youngsters about his award-winning book, A Yellow Watermelon, and its newly published sequel, Secret of the Satilfa. An appearance at the Georgia Literary Festival in Statesboro concluded his trip …
Kathryn Tucker Windham’s tales haunt festival and stage this October
Legendary storyteller and author Kathryn Tucker Windham is much in the news this October as the town of Thomasville, Alabama prepares for the 7th Annual Kathryn Tucker Windham Ghost Walk on October 23 and Birmingham’s Red Mountain Theatre Company debuts 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey: A Haunting New Musical on October 29. Mrs. Windham’s Jeffrey’s Favorite 13 Ghost Stories, an anthology of Mrs. Windham’s very favorite tales published by NewSouth Books, will be making lots of Halloween appearances in connection with these activities …
Mississippi Public Broadcasting gets personal with Rheta Grimsley Johnson: two terrific interviews
In back-to-back interviews for Karen Brown and Gene Edwards at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, syndicated newspaper columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson reflects on her life, her work, and her books, including her newest, a memoir called Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming. In her interview for Brown on Mississippi Edition, Rheta relates with characteristic candor and humor the story underlying the book’s title: growing up Southern Baptist …
A Yellow Watermelon named to Georgia Center for the Book inaugural reading list
NewSouth Books is pleased to announce that Ted Dunagan’s novel A Yellow Watermelon has been named one of the 25 Books Every Young Georgian Should Read. The Georgia Center for the Book compiled this inaugural list of titles for young readers; they have produced a list of 25 Books Every Georgian Should Read since 2002. The names of the young adult titles were revealed at a private party on August 26 at the Parkers on Ponce restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. A public announcement to be followed by a book signing will take place Saturday, August 28 in Decatur’s Historic Square from 10:00 am to noon …
Roger Reid wins Emmy for “Alabama in Space”
Roger Reid, writer and producer of the popular Alabama Public Television series Discovering Alabama and author of the young adult novels Space and Longleaf, received a Southeast Regional EMMY Award for Outstanding Achievement for his work as writer of a Discovering Alabama episode titled “Alabama in Space” …
NewSouth’s Sam Starnes leads novel workshop, featured in Philadelphia’s Star
Joe Samuel “Sam” Starnes, author of the novel tentatively called Fall Line, forthcoming from NewSouth Books, conducted a novel writing workshop along with novelist Tenaya Darlington at Port Richmond Books in Philadelphia last month. The event featured discussions on the writing process, character development, and point of view and place. According to an article in Philadelphia’s Star newspaper, writers Starnes and Darlington see the workshop as an important step in forming a writing community in which members will encourage each other …