Tom Franklin and Suzanne Marrs live from Booktopia Oxford

Jul 24

BOTNS #189: Live from Booktopia:Oxford – Tom Franklin and Suzanne Marrs

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This week we present the first two author talks from Booktopia:Oxford, recorded live at Off Square Books in Oxford, MS on June 16, 2012.

First up is Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Tom chose to read a short story called Alaska, from his collection Poachers. I loved this story, and Poachers was one of my Booktopia purchases.

Poachers

Suzanne Marrs is the official biographer of Eudora Welty and author of What there is to Say we have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. Suzanne tells a delightful story that also involves William Faulkner; a fitting story to tell in Faulkner’s hometown of Oxford.

I hope you enjoy these talks as much as we did. It’s not quite the same as being there, and you are missing the many delights of Square Books (including Green Tea Bourbon Punch), but it’s a fun little taste of our Booktopia weekend.

http://asthecrowefliesandreads.blogspot.com/ Emily

Oh, I didn’t know that Suzanne Marrs was going to be there, too. She was my advisor and mentor in college. Love her!
Jananav

These two were fabulous! (As was the green tea bourbon punch). Thanks for the revisit.
Pattysnyder26

Whenever I attend an author talk, I prefer the author to speak with and interact with the audience. I’m never sure what is accomplished by the author’s reading what he or she has written and then doesn’t chat with the audience. After all, I can buy the book and read it myself. I want to know so much about the writing process, the germination of ideas.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Patty, I usually tend to agree with you, but in this case, the authors spent most of the weekend meeting Booktopia attendees, and many were in one-hour discussion sessions with the authors. Plus, I *loved* hearing Tom reading that story, especially since I am not from the South and can now continue to read his work with that great intonation. I think an author who is also a great reader (in public) can be even more powerful when he or she reads his work aloud. The key, of course, is that they have to be a great reader, and not all authors are.
  - Pattysnyder26
    
    I’m wondering if you recorded any of the one-hour discussion sessions, and if they could be presented as future podcasts. I would like to hear those.
Patsy

I’ve recently discovered the BOTNS podcasts and am thoroughly enjoying them, even though listening to them takes away from time available to read the recommended books. I’m looking forward to hearing where the next Booktopias will be held and perhaps attending one.
Meanwhile, this podcast from the Oxford Booktopia gave me an idea for a future BOTNS podcast that I’d like to suggest–unless you’ve already done one on this topic, of course (I am afraid I don’t have time to listen to your previous nearly 200 podcasts to be check that out). My suggestion: books relating to correspondence between authors and their editors. I’m an editor myself, which is part of why I’m interested, but it’s also always interesting to see writing evolve through these exchanges.
Anyway, thanks for your efforts, and I’m looking forward to the next 200 (and more!) BOTNS podcasts!