Writers converge in Savannah

The third annual Savannah Book Festival kicks off Friday, Feb. 5 in the historic atmosphere of Telfair Square. The event draws dozens of authors and thousands of book lovers to Savannah each year.

“Our mission is to promote reading, writing, and civil conversation. We can develop a larger community of critically acclaimed authors in the city, and hope to generally improve the cultural climate in Savannah,” said Madison Prickett, executive and creative director of the festival. “We have over three dozen authors who will be making presentations, among them Pulitzer Prize winners, popular regional writers and authors from all over the country who write on a number of subjects. Also, this year we have a venue called Free Speech that will give an opportunity for lesser known, local authors to speak.”

The event will commence with a keynote speech given by internationally renowned thriller author Vince Flynn on Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. This critically acclaimed author of bestsellers, such as his latest, “Pursuit of Honor,” will speak once more at the festival on Feb. 6, to discuss his life in letters and his 11 novels.

A few additional renowned participants include Reza Aslan, author of “No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam” and “How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror”; Rick Bragg, author of “The Prince of Frogtown” and “The Most They Ever Had”; and Douglas Blackmon, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his nonfiction work, “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.” AASU is sponsoring Blackmon’s appearance at the festival.

Another distinguished author attending the function is Nagueyalti Warren, an author, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies at Emory University.

“In my poetry I try to bring history alive by speaking in the voice of historical figures. My persona poem, Margaret, is about the real life of Margaret Garner who tried to take the lives of her children, and actually did take the life of her daughter to prevent her from being returned to slavery. How must she have felt? What did she think?” Warren said, in regard to her upcoming readings at the festival. “I will also be reading from a collection of poems written by other women poets. I have edited this collection so that I can bring alive the voices of women of color across the globe.”

In addition to her appearance at the Savannah Book Festival, Warren will read at the AASU Science Center on Feb. 5 at 1:30 p.m. in room 1405.

Warren’s teaching and research specialties include African-American Literature, creative writing with a focus on poetry and W.E.B. Dubois’ contribution to the field of African-American studies. Her recent publications include an anthology of poetry by African-American women from throughout the Diaspora titled “Temba Tupu! (Walking Naked): Africana Women’s Poetic Self-Portrait.”

Also attending the festival will be Robert Leleux, author of “The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy,” an autobiographical adolescent comedy.

“I think that it is important to writers to know each other and to be in the same room with each other. It’s such a strange thing to write a book because it is the most solitary of pursuit. Suddenly, the whole writing experience is completely inverted: you are out in front of people, it’s very odd. I think that it is important to be around other people who are also writing. With writing, as opposed to any other art form, the social aspect is removed. It is important to be involved with other writers and to know exactly where you stand,” Leleux said in regard to his interest and motivation in attending the Savannah Book Festival.

Along with his interest in being involved with other writers, Leleux commented on his other motivation for being involved with the Savannah Book Festival.

“I had no idea what sort of enlivening fun, funny sort of events these can be,” Leleaux said. “You get to know a lot about the community hosting the event by attending events such as these; you get a quick full-body immersion into the spirit of a community.”

The festival not only caters to book lovers, but music lovers as well. Five-time Grammy Award-winner Mary Chapin Carpenter and singer-songwriters Kate Campbell, Caroline Herring and Claire Holley will perform. Their performance is set for Saturday, Feb. 6 in Trinity Church. Their sets will be commemorative of the late Eudora Welty, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of short stories and novels about the American South.