In this week’s Book Notes, a Georgia author receives a major accolade, an editorial cartoonist publishes a new book, the former press secretary for the president of Ukraine discusses her memoir and two authors talk about art at the confluence of activism and the environment.
Best of the best: Overnight success rarely happens overnight. It would be easy to categorize Sue Monk Kidd as one because her 2002 debut novel, “The Secret Life of Bees,” was a publishing phenomenon. A coming-of-age story about a girl navigating the death of her mother, life with a cruel father and the racist climate of 1964 South Carolina, it stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for two-and-a-half years, sold more than 8 million copies, was translated into 36 languages, was adapted into a stage play and then a movie, and is widely taught in schools and colleges.
But in truth, Kidd had already published short stories, a memoir and a book on spirituality since 1990. Her most recent book, “The Book of Longings” (2020), also was an NYT bestseller. It imagines that Jesus had a feminist wife, a scribe who penned stories about the heroines of early Christianity, whose presence was erased from the Bible.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, Kidd, who was born in Albany and grew up in nearby Sylvester, will be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed by the University of Georgia. She joins the ranks of Kevin Young, Alfred Uhry, Natasha Trethewey, Lillian Smith, Carson McCullers and Sidney Lanier, among others.
Kidd will give a book talk and participate in a Q&A at the induction ceremony, which will be held at 6 p.m. in room 271 of the UGA Special Collections Building (300 S. Hull St., Athens). The event is free and open to the public, but RSVP by email to LNessel@uga.edu is required.
Credit: ECW Press
Credit: ECW Press
Happy pub day: There’s no questioning the politics of Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist. Although he’s known to lampoon both sides of the partisan aisle, he’s a clear-cut liberal. His new book, “The Twisted History of the GOP” (ECW Press, $19.95), comes out Tuesday, Sept. 6. It’s a wickedly smart and funny skewering of the party, starting with George H.W. Bush, and spanning the Trump presidency, immigration, voting rights, the pandemic, the Supreme Court, the Capitol riot and Fox. Luckovich will discuss his book at the Decatur Book Festival on Oct. 1 on a panel with AJC staffers and authors Greg Bluestein (”Flipped: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republication Power”) and Ernie Suggs (”The Many Lives of Andrew Young”). For details go to decaturbookfestival.com.
Return to normal: The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta hosts its first live book event since the pandemic, and it’s a good one. Journalist Iuliia Mendel, who was press secretary for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will discuss her new memoir “The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World” (Atria/One Signal, $27.99) on Sept. 15. Her memoir begins with a quote from Ukrainian Ilya Kaminsky, a poetry professor at Georgia Tech and director of Poetry@Tech, then follows with a preface that captures the day Russia invaded Ukraine in gripping detail. The book traces Zelenskyy’s trajectory from actor to president, chronicles his efforts to establish democracy and ends with the war, which continues to rage on.
Mendel will be in conversation with Bill Nigut, senior executive producer for GPB. The event is 7:30 p.m. Sept.15 at the MJCCA (5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody). Tickets are $20, $33 including the book, at showclix.com. For details go to atlantajcc.org.
Credit: Christopher Ian Smith
Credit: Christopher Ian Smith
Do tell. This should be a fascinating talk. Authors Janisse Ray and Margaret Renkl will engage in conversation about the relationship between the environment, the arts and activism in an event billed as Art at the Confluence. An environmental writer, Ray is the author of the memoir “Ecology of a Cracker” (1999) and most recently, the essay collection, “Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans” (2021). Margaret Renkl is an essayist who writes about the South for The New York Times and is the author of “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss” (2021).
They will be joined by Emory music professor Dwight Andrews, senior pastor of First Congregational Church Atlanta (105 Courtland St. NE, Atlanta), which hosts the event at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11. Tickets are free, but registration is required at www.eventbrite.com.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Contact her at svanatten@ajc.com and follow her on Twitter at @svanatten.
