Georgia poets ponder family, nature, faith and labor in new collections

Three Georgia poets have new poetry collections out this fall.

Food figures prominently in “Work Lunch” (Hub City Press, Oct. 13) by musician and poet Lee Bains, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, who now lives in Atlanta. In long-form poems with titles such as “Sandwich,” “Cornbread and Beans” and “Salad,” Bains uses food as an entry point to explore topics such as family, memory, class, gender, race and labor — especially the invisible, underpaid and often thankless work of the service industry.

Bains will discuss “Work Lunch” Oct. 3 at the Decatur Book Festival. For details, go to decaturbookfestival.com. Georgia Center for the Book and A Cappella Books presents Bains in conversation with Peter Biello, host of GPB’s “All Things Considered,” Oct. 6 at Decatur Library. For details, go to georgiacenterforthebook.org.

Winner of the 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her memoir “Priestdaddy,” Savannah-based writer Patricia Lockwood’s sharp wit and keen intelligence are on display in her new poetry collection, “Agate Head / Stone Soup” (Penguin Books, out now). Previously published in outlets such as The Paris Review, The New Yorker and The Atlantic, the poems blend elements of memoir with observations about nature, literature and artmaking informed by Lockwood’s passion for collecting rocks and metal smithing.

Lockwood appears Oct. 3 at the Decatur Book Festival. For information, go to decaturbookfestival.com.

Atlanta poet Teri Elam’s debut, “Digging Beneath Bones” (Finishing Line Press, out now), features a dynamic collection of poems that explore mothers, daughters, fathers, faith and growing up Black in the South.

New book from Nic Stone

Happy pub day to Atlanta author Nic Stone. Publishing Tuesday is her middle-grade novel “Dasia (Forever)” (Crown Books for Young Readers, $17.99), a spinoff of her 2017 bestselling novel “Dear Martin.” Dasia is a 13-year-old girl who’s been cooped up in a hospital for 19 days undergoing cancer treatment when she befriends Jameson “Jimmy” Jeffs, who also has cancer. Dasia’s inner world is revealed in unsent letters she writes to her incarcerated older brother as the teen girls get to know one another and ultimately have their friendship tested.

Johns Creek Literary Fair

A New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction and a trio of Atlanta suspense writers will be featured at the Johns Creek Literary Fair on Nov. 14.

The featured guest is Nashville-based writer Ariel Lawhon, who sold 2 million copies of her 2023 novel “The Frozen River,” about a midwife who solves a murder in 18th-century Maine. Her new book, “The Pirate Queen” (Doubleday, $32), is set in 16th-century Ireland and tells the story of folk legend Grace O’Malley, who defied the era’s gender conventions to captain her clan’s fleet in a seafaring clash with England. Lawhon will be in discussion with author Patti Callahan Henry.

Emily Carpenter, whose 2025 horror novel “Gothictown” is in development as a series for AMC, will participate in the Secrets, Lies & Alibis suspense writers panel. She’ll be talking about her latest novel “A Spell for Saints and Sinners” (Kensington, $18.95).

Joining Carpenter will be C. Matthew Smith, author of “The Ones in the Corner” (Winding Road Stories, $14.99), and Tiffany Crum, author of “This Story Might Save Your Life” (Flatiron Books, $26.99). Mystery writer Valerie (V.M.) Burns will moderate.

Additional festivities include a ticketed VIP reception and 30 local adult and children’s authors promoting their work. The event will be held at Johns Creek United Methodist Church. For details, go to artsonthecreek.org.

Red Clay Writers Conference

Danté Stewart will be the keynote speaker for the Red Clay Writers Conference presented by the Georgia Writers Association on Oct. 17 at Kennesaw State University’s Marietta campus.

The Georgia-based author wrote “Shoutin’ in the Fire: An American Epistle” (Convergent Books, $25), a 2021 memoir about faith and the racial reckoning he experienced as a rising Black leader in a predominantly white evangelical church.

The conference will feature a variety of panels, readings and workshops on topics including poetry, memoir, screenwriting, horror, fantasy, YA novels and more. Among the 30 or so participating authors are Josh Russell, Amy Pence, Parul Kapur, Ann Hite and Garrard Conley.