Hometown heroes make Nashville proud at the Southern Festival this weekend! Don’t miss the chance to support them at their panel discussions or under the tents with the booksellers. Thank you, hometown heroes, for giving us books that sing.
Read on for tidbits and teasers from Don Winston, Nicki Pendleton Wood, Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, Ed Tarkington, and Margaret Lazarus Dean (hometown broadly defined).
From Don Winston, a true Southern gentleman who hasn’t been ruined by Hollywood:
Is childhood or adulthood more fun, and why?
Childhood is overrated. You’re always waiting for something to happen.
How old were you when you decided to be a writer?
I never decided. I just wrote things. And then more.
Who are some of your favorite authors (no more than 3)?
John Cheever, Shirley Jackson, Ira Levin.
What is the most unusual thing you have ever done?
Worked as a room service waiter, night shift, at New York’s hottest hotel.
Where do you live, and what do you like most about it?
By the Hollywood sign. It’s a little Mayberry, steps away from chaos.
Who or what makes you want to scream?
Narcissists.
From Nicki Pendleton Wood, a terrific food writer, cookbook editor, and mammographer, “which makes me (as far as I can tell), a Venn diagram of one.”
My guilty pleasure…
Horseracing! Mad for it all: the beautiful creatures, the thrill, the thundering hooves and flying turf.
The oddest thing I’ve ever done…
Get out of a van after a terrible wreck, swallow a handful of narcotics and ride a bike 435 miles with broken ribs.
Something about me that no one knows….
I’m really good at calculating odds. I’m doing it in my head all the time.
My favorite book as a child…
Mr. Widdle and the Sea Breeze. Strange and wonderful.
How old were you when you realized you wanted to be a writer (or it was pretty close to that)…
I was 8 when I decided I wanted to be an editor, and 13 when I decided to be a restaurant reviewer.
From Alice Randall, a novelist, country song writer, Vanderbilt professor, and food activist who will undoubtedly keep surprising us with everything she can think of and do:
What do you like to do on a rainy Saturday?
Work on my new book, Zagging with Ziggy.
What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
Reading a murder mystery a bubble bath with a glass of red wine.
What household chore do you secretly enjoy?
Ironing napkins.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Wuthering Heights
What is the most unusual thing you have ever done?
Paddled the frigid Pacific to peer inside an iceberg.
From Caroline Randall Williams, rising star, taking a study break from the MFA program at the University of Mississippi to share her new book of poetry at the Festival:
What do you like to do on a rainy Saturday?
Fix a mint julep, and listen.
Childhood or adulthood?
Adulthood; it comes with cocktails. And perspective.
Did you ever read books you weren’t supposed to?
Of course I did. Trashy romance novels….in middle school….
What was the first story you wrote, and at what age?
My mother transcribed my early childhood dreams – do those count?
What are some of your favorite books?
The Color Purple, Brideshead Revisited, and The Riverside Shakespeare.
From Ed Tarkington, current Montgomery Bell Academy teacher, wrestling coach, and writer who wins the prize for most evocative debut novel title:
What was your favorite book as a child?
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Who are some of your favorite authors (no more than 3)?
John Irving, Walker Percy, Herman Melville
What are your some of your favorite books (no more than 3)?
The World According to Garp, The Moviegoer, The Goldfinch
Who or what makes you want to scream?
Donald Trump
What brings you contentment?
my children
What do you worry about?
my children!
From Margaret Lazarus Dean, a professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who might be the only author ever featured in Ladies Home Journal and Aviation Weekly simultaneously:
What household chore do you secretly enjoy?
It’s no secret that I’m amazing at laundry.
Is childhood or adulthood more fun, and why?
Adulthood has all the good parties.
What is the most unusual thing you have ever done?
I once crawled out a window and shimmied down a drainpipe to get away when my house was broken into.
Do you love games, or not so much? Any game you especially love or hate?
I love games that involve words, hate games that involve coordination.
What did you learn in college, if anything?
Beer before liquor, never sicker.
Thank you so much Bacon for keeping me informed and in touch with all of this talent.
You know I have so much fun doing it!! xo
Agree with Betsy- such an interesting and talented group!!
So excited for festival to being tomorrow!!! Thank you for this blog Jennifer, & I hope I get to see you over the weekend at the festival.
I’ll be looking for you, Holly!! I’m sure we’ll see each other!! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the Southern Festival posts. xo