Comments on: Southern Lit Conference Redux

By: Greer Tirrill

Greer Tirrill — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:26:12 +0000

are you a writer or what? loved your report on the conference. i actually considered going but couldn’t talk Cher into it and couldn’t really get motivated to go up by myself. i’ve heard most of the other authors through the years, but never Wendell Berry and wanted to go just to hear him. i have two of Jill’s books–my favorite, a collection of short stories that you are welcome to borrow, Creatures of Habit, full of the kind of thing you’d expect after hearing her—full of the range of human emotions, but always tempered with humor.
thanks for the report—made me wish i’d been there.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:50:47 +0000

Our headmaster here at McCallie is on the board for the conference, and we were lucky to have all the writers on campus for a cocktail party on the first night of the conference. Getting to meet some of these giants made for a special evening for sure. I enjoyed getting to talk to SOL alumni Andrew and Erin.

For a funny bit of irony, I’ll pass along my story from the weekend. Saturday of that weekend, I was participating in a big bike race in downtown Chattanooga, and after my race I was sitting on my bike about to pack it up for the day when I see a a group of people walking down the street towards me/the race course (a closed circuit around the TVA building in downtown Chatty). It was a gaggle of Southern writers. I spoke to a few of them (most seemed content to ignore the guy in spandex) and watched them walk off only to see Wendell Berry unknowingly lead them into the course of an oncoming peloton of speeding cyclists. Luckily, one rider on a break-away dodged them and yelled some colorful language at them, and a major crisis was averted.

Just like writers, huh? Walking around just a-thinking about writing, I guess. Anyway, I was struck by how ironic it would have been if Wendell Berry had been run over by a man-powered machine. Food for thought…

By: hannah

hannah — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:15:57 +0000

hey Jimmy, I was shaken up by Jill McCorkle’s “The Cheer Leader.” I read it when I was about 17 and I still remember many piercing details about both the novel and the circumstances of my life at the time. I guess you could say that’s my recommendation.