What do Mid-South duck-hunting clubs and Robert Johnson have in
common? And what’s a cavalryman bent on revenge during the Civil War
doing alongside an unapologetic redneck and former lawman by the name
of Junior Ray Loveblood?
Answer: All of the above are the fictional or nonfictional bases for
recent books of local interest, and those books are all by local
authors. At Saturday’s DKCON at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, you’ll have a
chance to hear the authors discuss their works. You’ll also have a
chance to have those works signed by said authors. And those authors
are:
Photographer Murray Riss (First Shooting Light); music writer
Tom Graves (Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of the Blues Legend
Robert Johnson); and novelists Julie Hawkins (Hellfire
Beckoning) and John Pritchard (Junior Ray and Yazoo
Blues).
Except for Hawkins, this won’t be the first time these authors have
signed at Davis-Kidd. In fact, Riss’ splendid book of photographs was
the store’s number-one seller last year, according to publicist
Christina Meek, who coordinated this summer’s DKCON:
“I picked authors I thought Memphis readers would like to ask
questions of. And I wanted variety. So I contacted some of our most
popular local writers. John Pritchard, for example, we just love. I
like to invite him to participate in anything we do involving Memphis
authors. Tom Graves we’ve had, and though Julie Hawkins has never done
an event with us, I thought the subject of her book was a good fit with
the other titles.”
Can’t make it to Saturday’s program? Look for future local-author
days at Davis-Kidd. According to Meek, in August the store has
scheduled a panel discussion among local writers who call themselves
Imagicopter. In December, the store is again hosting its popular “home
for the holidays” Memphis-author meet-and-greet.
And that’s not all. Meek would like to see writing workshops inside
the store too. Stay tuned at daviskidd.com.