Georgia Literary Festival 2004

Introduction

Some 1,500 people came and enjoyed the sixth annual Georgia Literary Festival at Columbus August 13-14, 2004. The event drew the largest crowds of any previous festival and showcased a working partnership of people and organizations supporting the literary community in Columbus. Author and Columbus native Shay Youngblood was the star of the festival, and nearly 50 writers from around the region also had an opportunity to meet their readers. The Book Fair generated some $2,500 for the Chattahoochee Valley Regional Library system, too.

2004 Festival Program

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Program

Friday Aug. 13:	8:00 PM	Welcome Shay Youngblood Lecture "Ghost Tours" of the Springer Opera House
Saturday Aug. 14:	9:00 AM	Book Fair opens
	10:00 AM	Children's activities/Sidewalk Art Show Coca-Cola Space Science Center
	10:00 AM	Celebrating Carson McCullers Dr. Virginia Spencer Carr
	11:00 AM	Celebrating Augusta Evans Wilson Dr. Nick Norwood
	Noon	Lunch (on your own)
	1:00 PM	Celebrating Nunnally Johnson Dr. Thornton Jordan
	2:00-4:00 PM	Tours of literary sites (bus tour optional)
	5:00-8:00 PM	Dinner (on your own)
	8:00 PM	Showing of the film The Member of the Wedding
	9:30 PM	Candlelight Walk to Riverwalk for group reading of Sidney Lanier's "Song of the Chattahoochee" followed by jazz concert (cash bar)

All events are free. No reservations required.

Book Fair

The authors who will be visiting the Literary Festival and signing books at the Book Fair beginning at 9:00 AM Saturday August 14 are:

9:00-9:45 AM	Frank Losonsky Flying Tigers
Noon-1:00 PM	Jacquelyn Cook Magnolia Kevin Cantwell Something Black in the Green Part of Your Eye Janie Green Dancing Feathers; Journey Into Africa Peter Huggins Blue Angels Bevelyn Blair Everyday Cakes Chris Forhan The Actual Moon Nick Norwood Soft Blare Ann McMillan Civil Blood; Angel Trumpet
2:00-4:00 PM	Dennis Hale Prayer Cathy Buglioli The Golden Horse Jean Copeland Shout Them from the Mountaintops Richard Hyatt Zell: The Governor that Gave Georgia Hope Erica Neitz Shapesville Larry Williamson Tallapoosa James Dona The Sea Chameleon Alan Grady When Good Men Do Nothing Ken Thomas Columbus, Georgia, in Vintage Postcards Jim Cothran Gardens of the Antebellum South Jacelyn Weldon White Distant Hearts Jackie Cooper Journey of a Southern Gentleman John Fox Red Clay to Richmond Roger Linton Chickamauga: Battlefield History in Images Paul Pierce Springer Ghost Book Collin Kelly Better to Travel
3:00-5:00 PM	Bruce Jordan Murder in the Peach State Regan Griffin Under Glass Ralph Brooks Day By Day with Epilepsy Shelley Freydont Midsummer Murder Linda Kennedy/Mary Jane Galer Historic Linwood Cemetery Janice Daugharty Just Doll; Pawpaw Patch Mark Braught P is for Peach Jessery Vasseur Discovering the World: Collected Stories Laura Knorr 12 Days of Christmas
4:00-6:00 PM	Charlotte Johnson A Journey to Hell and Back Fred Fussell Blue Ridge Music Trails Garry Pound Oliviatown Anne King Walls of Light; The Murals of Walter Anderson Landon Alexander The Salvation Plan of God
5:00-7:00 PM	Clason Kyle Images Steve Woodruff/Dave McGee The Last Neighborhood

Featured Writers

Shay Youngblood is a Columbus native and a widely acclaimed poet, playwright and fiction writer (Soul Kiss, Black Girl in Paris). She also has written, produced and directed two short videos and written a screenplay for Shakin' the Mess Outta Misery, which was optioned by Sidney Poitier for Columbia Pictures. She currently lives in New York City and teaches creative writing at the New School for Social Research.

Carson McCullers, born in Columbus in 1917, ranks among the finest American fiction writers of the 20th century. Her books include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Member of the Wedding and Clock Without Hands and, posthumously, The Mortgaged Heart. She also published a book of children's verse and adapted several of her works for the stage. She died in 1967 in New York state and is buried there.

Augusta Evans Wilson was born in Columbus in 1835 though she soon moved to Texas and later settled in Alabama. She wrote her first book, Inez: A Tale of the Alamo, at the age of 15. Her best-known novel was St. Elmo, which was a huge bestseller rivaling Uncle Tom's Cabin in the mid-19th century; hotels, steamboats, cigars and even homes and towns were named for it. She was an ardent supporter of the Confederacy during the Civil War and dedicated one of her novels to Confederate soldiers. She died in 1909 in Alabama.

Nunnally Johnson was born in Columbus in 1897 and was a New York newspaper reporter in the 1920s before heading to Hollywood and becoming a prolific and prize-winning screenwriter and director. He wrote the screenplays for such films as The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road, The Dirty Dozen and How to Marry a Millionaire. As director, he oversaw films including The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and Black Widow. He died in 1977 in Hollywood.

Location

The 2004 Festival will take place at the opulent Springer Opera House in historic uptown Columbus. The Opera House is the State Theatre of Georgia and has been a leading Southern cultural institution for 131 years.
Address:  103 10th Street, Columbus, Georgia.  Map

Children's activities including a Sidewalk Art Show will take place at the Coca-Cola Space Science Center
Address:  701 Front Avenue, Columbus, Georgia.  Map

Sponsors

The Georgia Literary Festival is sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book and supported through the generous contributions of our co-sponsors:

• Chattahoochee Valley Regional Library System
• Historic Columbus Foundation
• Columbus State University
• Columbus Museum
• Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau
• The Literary Alliance
• Junior League of Columbus
• Springer Opera House
• Joseph House Art Gallery
• Barnes and Noble, Columbus

For more information, contact the Georgia Center for the Book at 404-370-8450 ext 2225, or via E-mail.