Alabama Authors on The New York Times "Notable Books" List

The New York Times recently published its list of "100 Notable Books of 2008." Authors on this year's list that have connections to Alabama are Tony Earley, Edward O. Wilson, and Tobias Wolff. All three have appeared on the Times "Notable Books" list in previous years. Other Alabama writers that have been included in earlier lists are Rick Bragg, Ralph Ellison, Fannie Flagg, Homer Hickam, and Sena Jeter Naslund.

Midge Coates, Project Manager
This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape

Audio: Alabama Arts Radio Series

Alabama Arts, the radio program from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, is broadcast on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 PM Central Time on Troy University Public Radio. The subjects of these programs include art, music, theater, literature, and arts education.

These radio programs have long been available online. For the last year or so, they have also been available in podcast form. That is, you can subscribe via iTunes and have them automatically downloaded to your computer.

You can also find these podcasts by visiting the Alabama Arts Radio Series blog. Listeners can subscribe to the blog using a reader program such as Bloglines, Google Reader, or My Yahoo!.

So far in 2008, Alabama authors interviewed have included Sena Jeter Naslund, Kirk Cornutt, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Ace Atkins, Jake Adam York, and Kathryn Tucker Windham.

Listen directly (streaming) or download these programs from the Alabama Arts Radio Series blog.

Sena Jeter Naslund interview, March 4, 2008

Kirk Curnutt interview, March 25, 2008

Rheta Grimsley Johnson and Ace Atkins interviews, April 8, 2008

Jake Adam York interview, June 3, 2008

Kathryn Tucker Windham interview, October 28, 2008

Midge Coates, Project Manager
This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape

Video: Alabama Authors at the National Book Festival

On September 27, representatives from the Alabama Center for the Book will be in Washington, D.C., for the National Book Festival which is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. The Festival is a day-long event where representatives from Centers for the Book around the country provide information about their states' literary activities. There will also be presentations by authors, illustrators, and poets throughout the day.

Videos of presentations from previous Festivals are available online at the Library of Congress Webcasts page. Alabama authors who have made presentations include Gail Godwin, Natasha Trethewey, John Lewis, Andrew Hudgins, and Sena Jeter Naslund.

These videos are presented in the RealPlayer® format. If you don't have the necessary plug-in, you can get a free version of RealPlayer® at the Real.com Web site.

If you have difficulties with streaming video files or if you want to watch at a later time, you can also download one or more of these videos to your computer. Click on "Launch in a new window" and choose "Save File". (You will still need the RealPlayer® plug-in to watch the downloaded files.)

Watch Gail Godwin at the 2001 National Book Festival.

Watch Natasha Trethewey at the 2004 National Book Festival.

Watch John Lewis at the 2004 National Book Festival.

Watch Andrew Hudgins at the 2005 National Book Festival.

Watch Sena Jeter Naslund at the 2007 National Book Festival.

Midge Coates, Project Manager
This Goodly Land: Alabama's Literary Landscape