New fall books include Lil Jon memoir, Carson McCullers letters

A biography of activist writer Lillian Smith, a memoir by Atlanta rap artist Lil Jon and a 1,136-page collection of letters penned by author Carson McCullers are among intriguing new nonfiction titles publishing this fall. Here are five upcoming books piquing our interest this season.

"An Inconvenient Woman" by Keri Leigh Merritt (Courtesy of St. Martin's Press)

“An Inconvenient Woman”

In her heyday, she was a bestselling author who sold millions of books and was one of the few white Southerners who publicly advocated for integration and civil rights for Blacks as early as the 1930s. But history has nearly forgotten Lillian Smith. Historian Keri Leigh Merritt hopes to change that with this fresh look at the rabble-rouser from the North Georgia mountains. Drawing upon previously unpublished archival research, Merritt paints a compelling portrait of the multifaceted activist. Highlights include Smith’s time as an educator in China, the decades she ran a girls’ summer camp in the Appalachian Mountains, her publication of the groundbreaking books “Strange Fruit” and “Killers of the Dream,” her romantic relationship with Paula Snelling, her battle with cancer and the fire that destroyed all her work. (St. Martin’s Press, Sept. 29)

"All the Love You Can Use: The Letters of Carson McCullers," edited by Carlos Dews (Courtesy of Mariner Books)

“All the Love You Can Use: The Letters of Carson McCullers”

The literary tradition of publishing the collected letters of influential authors will soon become extinct for the simple reason that nobody writes letters anymore, and what a pity. The collected tweets and Instagram posts of modern-day authors just don’t hold the same appeal. Lucky for fans of Columbus native Carson McCullers, she was a voracious letter writer. Edited by Carlos Dews, the letters span 32 years, starting when the author was 18 and continuing until her death at age 50 from a brain hemorrhage in 1967. Alternately breezy and deeply revealing, the letters encompass a range of topics: her work, the film adaptations of her work, her health, the war, her marriage and divorce, her infatuations, the deaths of loved ones and more. Her correspondents include a who’s who of the era: John Huston, Clare Boothe Luce, Gypsy Rose Lee, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Julie Harris, Karen Blixen. But it’s the more personal letters that resonate — the ones to and about her husband Reeves McCullers; Swiss journalist Annemarie Schwarzenbach, with whom McCullers was obsessed; and Dr. Mary Mercer, McCullers’ psychiatrist turned romantic partner. (Mariner Books, Sept. 29)

Georgia Center for the Book presents a discussion with Dews Oct. 13 at Decatur Library. For details go to dekalblibrary.org. Dews also appears at the Columbus Public Library Oct. 12. To learn more, go to cvlga.org.

"I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me" by Lil Jon (Courtesy of Atria / Black Privilege Publishing)

“I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me”

Considered the founding father of crunk music, Atlanta rapper Lil Jon (born Jonathan H. Smith) kicks off his memoir with a career highlight – Usher’s 2024 Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show in Las Vegas, which Lil Jon spent six months preparing as its musical director. From there he flashes back to his youth growing up in southwest Atlanta where he was bullied for excelling in school and for his disfigured eye, which he injured as a child while playing with a needle meant for treating his mother’s diabetes. The book charts Lil Jon’s rise to fame as an influential musician and producer, and it’s filled with juicy revelations: His grandmother was a bootlegger in LaGrange. His mother was born “with a veil over her face” (in caul) and believes she has psychic powers. And Lil Jon recently discovered that the man he grew up believing was his father is not a blood relation. (Atria / Black Privilege Publishing, Oct. 20)

"Dispatches from Rural America" by Wendell Berry (Courtesy of Counterpoint Press)

“Dispatches from Rural America”

National Humanities Award recipient Wendell Berry, who died last month at age 92, was a prolific writer of essays, poems and novels about rural life, the environment, family, faith and community. This collection of 16 essays begins with a most profound work titled “Against Killing Children,” a chilling treatise on how little human life is valued in modern times. “We have become a child-killing nation,” he writes. “We have become a society or a nation of people who cannot confidently prevent our own children from being killed in their schoolrooms or in other gathering places, and who do not much mind the killing of other people’s children by weapons of war….” (Counterpoint Press, Oct. 27)

"My Monstrous Family Cookbook" by J. I. Daniels (Courtesy of Unsolicited Press)

“My Monstrous Family Cookbook”