{"product_id":"the-best-of-the-shortest-a-southern-writers-reading-reunion-9781604893526","title":"The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion","description":"\u003cp\u003eSouthern Writers Reading was the literary scene gone rogue, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eupsetting the apple carts of more than a couple of self-satisfied editors\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein the region. It was the anti-establishment strain of the literary family, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe kids in the back of the classroom shooting spitballs, lobbing rotten\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eapples, thumbing their noses at grammatical prudes. And William\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehad nothing but disdain for posturing and preening, academic airs, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emercenary social climbing, obsequious ass-kissing. And limousines. No\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewonder he kept returning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1998-2008: these were literary magic years, with Big Daddy\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSonny Brewer bringing the juju, along with partners-in-crime like Jim\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGilbert, Kyle Jennings, Skip Jones, and Martin Lanaux. The community\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecame alive, venues volunteered, folks opened their homes to lodge\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eauthors, throw parties, banquets, lunches and brunches, and the ABC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003estore did a very brisk business. The weekend's events all fell under the\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eumbrella of Southern Writers Reading.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy \"Southern\"? There's been much debate over the last\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecouple of decades about whether the classification should even exist\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eanymore. For my own self, I just know that when I was doing research\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efor my 2003 novel In a Temple of Trees, I explored some very dark, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeliverance-like parts of West Alabama that took me right back to my\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003echildhood days in southwest Georgia-in the 1950s. Places where time\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehas stopped. My protective guide took me to dives and honky tonks\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand drove me around with a man and his six-year-old son, both of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhom enthusiastically chewed and spat tobacco. We visited a woman\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein jail accused of carving her boyfriend's rectum out with a fish scaling\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eknife. I witnessed an elderly African American man address a teenage\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewhite boy as \"sir,\" and not in an ironic way. Confederate flags were not\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003euncommon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Livingston Press at the University of West Al","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50523030618386,"sku":"9781604893526","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_88ae6c84-98c2-43f7-824b-dab112e4ddbd.jpg?v=1731133184","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-best-of-the-shortest-a-southern-writers-reading-reunion-9781604893526","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}