MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) – Literary Capital Writers, notable writers with Monroeville roots, will participate in the Monroeville Literary Festival in March at the Monroe County Museum.
The 25th annual gathering of writers and readers at the Monroeville Literary Festival is scheduled for March 4-5, 2022 at the Monroe County Museum in Alabama’s literary capital.
Monroeville is considered the literary capital of Alabama as it is home to literary giants such as Nelle Harper Lee and Truman Capote.
This year, Monroeville Literary Festival authors include Mark Childress, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Mike Stewart and Cynthia Tucker. These authors belong to an illustrious group of ten prominent writers with ties to Monroe County who contributed to the official designation of Monroeville and Monroe County by the Alabama Legislature.
Everyone will participate in a round table and a signing session as part of the Festival. Author sessions at the festival are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required through Eventbrite or by calling the Museum at 251-575-7433.
Here is how the Monroe County Museum described the authors:
Mark Childress was born in Monroeville and has published seven novels, as well as three children’s books. His best-known novel, Crazy in Alabama, has been published in nine different countries and was named one of the top ten best books of 1993, in addition to The Spectator’s “Book of the Year” and “Outstanding Book by the year” from the New York Times. the Year”. Crazy in Alabama was made into a movie in 1999. Childress received the Thomas Wolfe Award, University of Alabama Distinguished Alumni Award, Alabama Library Association Writer of the Year and the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writer from Alabama (2014).
Rheta Grimsley Johnson is a former Monroeville resident who wrote for the Monroe Journal before leaving to write for United Press International. She has won numerous awards, including the Distinctive Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Ernie Pyle Journalism Award and the Clarence Cason Award for Nonfiction, and she was inducted into the Scripps Howard Editorial Hall of Fame. Rheta’s latest book, The Dogs Buried Over the Bridge, uses a parade of beloved dogs to take readers on a colorful journey. She is also the recipient of this year’s Truman Capote Award for Outstanding Alabama Writer in Literary Nonfiction or Short Story, which will be presented to her during the festival.
Mike Stewart hails from Vredenburgh, a small sawmill town in southern Alabama located in northern Monroe County. Stewart grew up exploring the woods, rivers and streams of the Deep South, which now appear in her works of fiction. After high school, he graduated from Auburn University and later earned a law degree from Cumberland School of Law. Stewart’s published works include the crime novels Sins of the Brother, Dog Island, A Clean Kill and A Perfect Life.
Cynthia Tucker, a Monroeville native, graduated from Monroe County High School and Auburn University. She was the editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for 17 years. In 1988 she received a Neiman Fellowship at Harvard University. Tucker has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (2007) and Journalist of the Year (2006) from the National Association of Black Journalists. His first book, The Southernization of America, co-authored with Frye Gaillard, has just been published, and Tucker will receive the Harper Lee Award for Outstanding Writer of the Year in Alabama at this year’s Festival.
