SOUTHERN LIT CELEBRATION

Author Brad Gooch’s appearance at the Margaret Mitchell House Monday is part of a monthlong celebration of contemporary Southern literature involving a loose coalition of literary sites in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia called the Southern Literary Trail.

During March, in 18 towns across the Southeast, writers such as William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison and Eudora Welty will be heralded with plays, movies, tours, discussion panels and author events.

Among the events taking place in Georgia:

> Storytelling every Saturday afternoon at the Wren’s Nest, “Uncle Remus” author Joel Chandler Harris’ home, in the West End area of Atlanta.

> A conference on Lillian Smith (author of “Strange Fruit”), March 14-15, in the town of Clayton and at Rabun Gap, including panel discussions, tours of her Clayton home, and documentary films screened at the Rabun Gap Nacoochee School in Rabun Gap.

> A Carson McCullers film festival screened at the Columbus Public Library, March 27-29, with tours of the Columbus childhood home of the author of “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”

For more information, see www.southernliterarytrail.org.