According to a Los Angeles Times story, Mark Twain is being honored (for the second time) on a U.S. postage stamp.
The story also mentions the publication earlier this year of the bestselling – and massive – first volume of Twain’s Autobiography, which is currently available in public libraries. As are, of course, the many books – fiction and nonfiction – that Twain wrote.
Found via Shelf Awareness
Harper Lee’s masterpiece is 50 years old this year.
Celebrations of this never-out-of-print book’s original publication are planned throughout the country through September.
The story of the book’s popularity, of the 84-year-old author’s famous shyness, and some of the events scheduled this year to honor it, are described in this recent article from the New York Times.
Copies of this book are in every U.S. public library and bookstore. If you never got around to reading it, you might consider doing so this summer.
Found via This – A Webzine
Last month, Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger Suzanne Van Alten suggested ten books by southern authors that are being published this fall that you might want to consider putting on your reading list. You might also want to add the AJC’s Atlanta Arts and Culture blog to your Internet Favorites.
Meanwhile, if you’re in the mood for reading some fiction written by a southern author but don’t want to confine yourself to the universe of strictly new books, you might take a gander at Oxford American’s Best Southern Novels of All Time – including the host of additional suggestions made by outraged OA readers whose favorite southern novels were not chosen among the editors’ picks of the Top Ten.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker will speak at Emory on Thursday, April 23rd . Walker’s visit to Emory will mark the opening day of the first public display of selections from Walker’s archives, in the Schatten Gallery in Emory’s Woodruff Library.
Admission to Walker’s lecture is free, but advance tickets are required.
The lecture will be preceded by a day-long symposium featuring Gloria Steinem, Howard Zinn, and other speakers. Registration for non-students for the symposium cost $25.
Details are here.
Contributed by Ponce staffer Leticia Stinson
What: Eudora Welty Centennial Lecture
When: Monday, April 13, 2009, 4:30-5:30 P.M.
Where: Georgia State University’s Student Center Auditorium,
44 Courtland Street
Who: Dr. Daniele Pitavy-Souques, Professor Emerita,
University of Burgundy
What: Eudora Welty Centennial Celebration:
When: Monday, April 13, 2009, 6-8 P.M.
Where: Rialto Center for the Arts Lobby & Mezzanine, 80 Forsyth Street
Directions and parking information: www.cas.gsu.edu/welty100.html
Free admission to both events, but please RSVP by calling 404-413-9843
Throughout the month of March 2009, eighteen towns in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi will present plays, movies, tours and discussion panels that explore the masterworks of U.S. Southern literature and honor the famous authors from their respective towns.
Visit the festival’s website for a schedule of events.
Meanwhile, you might want to read or re-read one of the books whose authors the Festival will be highlighting. – or read a biography about one of them. Georgia authors are: Margaret Mitchell and Joel Chandler Harris from Atlanta; Lillian Smith from Clatyon; Carson McCullers from Columbus; Flannery O’Connor and Alice Walker from Millegeville; and Erskine Caldwell from Moreland.
Found at DCPLive
Atlanta Booklover's Blog 
