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 This week, the second installment of author talks from Booktopia:Oxford’s Celebration of Authors, which happened on June 16th at Off Square Books in Oxford, MS.

First, a brief note: in this recording, Michael refers to some of Kevin Brockmeier’s lists, which he said we would post in the show notes. It’s taking us a bit longer than originally planned, so we will have those lists up in a supplmentary blog post on Friday, August 24th. Check the Books on the Nightstand website on Friday, if you don’t receive our posts via email. Thanks for your patience.

 

Kevin Brockmeier is the author of many of my favorite works of fiction, including Brief History of the Dead and the story collection The View from the Seventh Layer, which contains one of my favorite short stories ever, “A Fable Ending in the Sound of Thousand Parakeets.” In his talk at Booktopia:Oxford’s Celebration of Authors, Kevin reads from his latest book, The Illumination.

Next, Ellen F. Brown regales us with fascinating stories about Margaret Mitchell and the novel Gone With the Wind. Brown’s book, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood, delves deeply into the story behind the publishing of Gone with the Wind. It’s a little-known piece of publishing history, and a must-read for fans of popular culture. Ellen’s author session at Booktopia:Oxford was one of the highlights of my weekend, and her talk on this podcast will give you a little taste of why. At the end of her talk, Ellen mentions her Facebook page for the book. Feel free to “like” her page and ask her any questions over there.