Archive for the 'Carry the Rock' Category
The fine folks at WordsWorth Books & Co. have posted pictures of my signing last night on their Facebook page.
The paperback edition of Carry the Rock is out Tuesday, August 30, and I’ll be appearing at WordsWorth Books in Little Rock for a signing from 5 to 7 p.m. Stop by for a drink, snack and chat. Coach Bernie Cox told me he’ll try to be there as well.
On Tuesday, June 14, I’ll be reading a piece as part of the storytelling series and radio broadcast “Tales from the South.” This appearance is part of the Tin Roof Project, where established writers read, followed by a Q&A with host Paula Morrell. Others who’ve participated have been Graham Gordy and Kevin Brockmeier. Because it has become so popular, advance reservations are recommended.
Little Rock was chockful of writers this weekend for the annual literary festival, and as usual, it was an exercise in blissful frustration as there were more great sessions than there was time to attend. Besides moderating a panel on Charles Portis with fellow Portisheads Graham Gordy (screenwriter, playwright and columnist) and Kane Webb (“Voices” page editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette), I presented my own book at a session held at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. It was somewhat chilling because from the stage in the second-floor ballroom where I was speaking, I could see the intersection where the body of John Carter was deposited and set aflame after his lynching in 1927, described in the second chapter of my book. I was honored that Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock 9, was in attendance. Her daughter, Spirit Trickey, a playwright herself, introduced me, and the reception I received from everyone at the Mosaic Templars was wonderful. The place was packed for the session which followed me, Isabel Wilkerson discussing her book, The Warmth of Other Suns. She was riveting. Other terrific sessions I sat in on were those with John Brandon (Citrus County) and Eliza Griswold (The Tenth Parallel).
In Sunday’s paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote about the Portis panel; you’ll have to subscribe or purchase the article to see it, because that’s the way they roll (and the way more and more newspapers will have to roll).
The Arkansas Educational Television Network has just announced when the broadcast schedule for the interview I did with journalist Steve Barnes for his popular show “Barnes and…”. It will air Feburary 11 and 17 at 6:30pm, and Febuary 27 at 10:30pm. You can find the full release here.
Tom Hoffarth, sports media columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, leads with Carry the Rock in his recommendations of notable sports books of the year, mentioning best-sellers like the Mickey Mantle biography, but also focusing on “under-the-radar but still-fresh sports page-turners out there.” Thanks, Tom.
The Los Angeles Times published its sports book gift guide today and included Carry the Rock. We agree that Angelinos will like it.
In preparation for the four-day feast of turkey and football, the Huffington Post has compiled a list of nine football books for when you want to rest your eyes on the printed page instead of the TV screen. I’m thrilled for Carry the Rock to have been inlcuded with Paper Lion, The Blind Side and Friday Night Lights. One of my own additions would have been Willie Morris’s The Courting of Marcus Dupree, about the transcendent Mississippi high school running back who was the recent subject of one of ESPN’s 30-for-30 documentaries, The Best That Never Was. It brings the story to the present day and is well worth watching - touching, sad and hopeful, all at the same time.
Last week the New York Observer ran this brilliant profile of Gilbert Rogin, former Sports Illustrated managing editor, mad genius, and hilariously serious novelist, whose work is coming back into print thanks to The Lowbrow Reader and Verse Chorus Press. My introduction to the novels originally appeared as an essay in the Lowbrow.
I was in Florida over the weekend at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance conference, where my book was an “Okra Pick,” so I missed Central’s latest game, but I learned that the Tigers dropped another one, 41-31, to a much-improved Van Buren team.
