December 2023: Georgia Authors (who are not Margaret Mitchell)

The December 2023 meeting surveyed Georgia Authors.  To avoid seeing multiple copies of Gone With the Wind—and, more importantly, to spotlight other Georgia writers—the group purposely excluded Margaret Mitchell.  As a result, collectors came up with an impressive array of poets, essayists, novelists, storytellers, and historians.  The highlighted Georgia authors are presented here in chronological order.

 

Thomas Holley Chivers (1809 – 1858)

Nacoochee: Or, The Beautiful Star, with Other Poems

Chivers, T. H.  Nacoochee: Or, The Beautiful Star, with Other Poems.  New York: W. E. Dean, Printer, 1837.  The author's third published collection of poetry.  This copy bears a presentation inscription from the author to the editor of The Sunday Morning News on the front free end paper.

"To the Editor of the Sunday Morning News.
Presented by the Author with his sincere respects."

Thomas Holley Chivers was born in Washington, Georgia, in 1809.  He trained as a physician but practiced medicine only briefly before turning to writing.  Chivers published ten books of poetry.  He has been called the "Lost Poet" of Georgia and has mostly been forgotten except for his friendship with Edgar Allan Poe.  Poe’s writing of "The Raven" was influenced by some of Chivers’s poetry.  He later traveled throughout many parts of the country, but always returned to Georgia.  Chivers is cited as an influence on Margaret Mitchell, and she intended to write a biography of him shortly before her death.

 

Maurice Thompson (1844 – 1901)

Stories of the Cherokee Hills

Thompson, Maurice.  Stories of the Cherokee Hills.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898.  A collection of seven fictional stories of both white and black Georgians, set mostly in the North Georgia mountains, spanning the slave days, the civil war, and the period of reconstruction.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

James Maurice Thompson moved with his family to Georgia as a young child and lived on his father’s plantation in the Cherokee Valley.  He and his brother become expert archers, hunting throughout Georgia from the Okefenokee Swamp to the north Georgia mountains and beyond.  His best-known book is The Witchery of Archery; the first edition of 1877 is extremely rare and very desirable by modern day archers.  He published 22 books in his lifetime, including books of poetry, novels, and essay collections.

 

Joel Chandler Harris (1848 – 1908)

Uncle Remus: His Songs and HIs Sayings

Harris, Joel Chandler.  Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings.  New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1898.  A collection of animal stories, folklore, and songs Harris learned as a teenager from the black storytellers he encountered at the Turnwold Plantation while working for The Countryman newspaper.  Harris constructed the Uncle Remus character to narrate the stories in the African American dialect in which he heard them.  This copy is inscribed by the author on the front free end paper.

"For Little Ruth: with the affectionate regards of Joel Chandler Harris"

Joel Chandler Harris was born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1848.  He attended the Eatonton Academy for Boys, where one of his teachers later recalled his early writing ability.  He was a voracious reader of books and newspapers.  He began his writing career writing for the Macon Telegraph newspaper, though soon found that journalism did not satisfy his literary ambitions.  He later joined the writing staff of the Atlanta Constitution, where he was given an opportunity to take over a regular column which allowed him to write more creatively.  Harris's Uncle Remus stories first appeared in this newspaper column.  He published 10 collections of Uncle Remus and Mr. Rabbit stories; in total, he published 25 books in his lifetime plus 4 posthumous new works.  In 2000, Harris was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Harry Stillwell Edwards (1855 – 1938)

Eneas Africanus

Edwards, Harry Stillwell.  Eneas Africanus.  Macon, GA: Eneas Africanus Press, 1954.  Reprint.  First published in 1920, this pro-slavery propaganda story tells the story of Eneas, a former slave still faithful to his old master, George Tommey, who is sent out in search of "Tommeysville."  Eneas returns many years later with a family and all of Tommey's family treasures.

Edwards, Harry Stillwell.  Eneas Africanus.  Gatlinburg, TN: Historic Press \ South, n.d. (1973).  Facsimile reprint of the 1920 edition by J. W. Burke Company.

Harry Stillwell Edwards was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1855.  He earned his law degree from Mercer University in 1877 and was admitted to the bar but never practiced law, choosing to be a writer instead.  His early novels were mysteries which focused on Southern aristocratic families.  He turned his attention to journalism and became the co-owner/co-editor of the Macon Evening News and the owner/editor Macon Telegraph where he contributed a popular monthly column, "What Comes Down the Creek."  Writing later in the post-Reconstruction era, Edwards authored and self-published pro-slavery fantasies, propaganda literature still popular in the South at the time.  In all, he authored 19 novels and short story collections.

 

Erskine Caldwell (1903 – 1987)

You Have Seen Their Faces

Caldwell, Erskine and Margaret Bourke-White.  You Have Seen Their Faces.  New York: Viking Press, 1940.  Second edition.  First published in 1937, Caldwell wrote the social commentary for photographer Bourke-White's raw portraiture of the share-cropping South during the Great Depression.  The book is regarded as Bourke-White's most successful single work.  Caldwell's forceful commentary exemplifies his political sympathies with the working class; he often wrote stories of workers and farmers portraying their lives and struggles.  Caldwell and Bourke-White married two years after the book's publication.

Erskine Preston Caldwell was born in Moreland, Georgia, in 1903.  His father was a minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, and Caldwell was profoundly influenced by his father's conservative, social reform theology and his parents' assistance to the poor in Wrens, Georgia, where his father pastored in Caldwell's teens.  He often wrote about poverty, racism, and social injustice in the American South.  These themes are prominent in his two most acclaimed works, Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933).  Caldwell authored 25 novels, 12 nonfiction collections, 2 autobiographies, 2 children's books, and 150 short stories.  He also edited the 28-volume series American Folkways.  In 2000, Caldwell was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Kenneth Coleman (1916 – 1999)

The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789

Coleman, Kenneth.  The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789.  Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1958.  This revision of Coleman's doctoral dissertation provides a detailed description of the events leading up to the Revolutionary war, the years of fighting, and the readjustment after independence.  It analyzes the political, social, and economic impacts of the war throughout Georgia.  This copy is signed and dated on the title page.

Georgia Journeys, 1732-1754

Temple, Sarah Gober and Kenneth Coleman.  Georgia Journeys, 1732-1754.  Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1961.  Coleman and Temple use primary accounts of the original settlers of Georgia to trace the development of Georgia from the arrival of the original colonists in 1732 to England's takeover of the colony in 1754.  They focus on the problems and challenges encountered in establishing the colony, as described by the original and early settlers themselves.

Kenneth Coleman was born in Devereux, Georgia, in 1916.  He was a professor of history at the Atlanta Division of the University of Georgia (now Georgia State University) before moving to the main Athens campus of UGA in 1955.  He authored five books on colonial and revolutionary Georgia.  He served as the general editor and a contributor to A History of Georgia (1977), a project encouraged earlier by then-Governor Jimmy Carter.  He also edited six volumes (published between 1976 and 1989) of the 67-volume Colonial Records of Georgia and co-edited the 2-volume Dictionary of Georgia Biography (1983).  In 1992, Coleman received the Governor's Award in the Humanities, presented by Governor Zell Miller, who had been an undergraduate student of Coleman's.

 

Jimmy Carter (b. 1924)

Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President

Carter, Jimmy.  Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President.  New York: Bantam Books, 1982.  Carter's memoir of his time in the Oval Office is a candid glimpse into both the personal life and political world of the 39th President.  He details the highs and lows of his time in office, from the triumph of the Camp David Middle East peace summit to the frustrations of the Iran hostage crisis.  This edition is limited to 2,500 copies and is hand numbered and signed on the limitation page.

Numbered and signed limitation page

James Earl Carter, Jr. was born in Plains, Georgia, in 1924.  He began a life of public service with a stint in the Navy before serving two terms in the Georgia General Assembly.  He became the 76th Governor of Georgia in 1971 and the 39th President of the United States in 1977.  After leaving the White House, he and his wife, Rosalynn, founded the Carter Center, a nonpartisan public policy center promoting human rights and furthering the eradication of infectious diseases.  In 2002, Carter earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Carter Center.  He has authored 32 books and co-authored one book with his wife, Rosalynn, and one book with his daughter, Amy.  In 2006, Carter was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Flannery O'Connor (1925 – 1964)

The Complete Stories

O’Connor, Flannery.  The Complete Stories.  New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1971.  Posthumously published, this short story collection comprises the stories from A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) and Everything That Rises Must Converge (1965), along with several previously unavailable stories. The Complete Stories won the National Book Award for Fiction 1972.

Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1925.  She attended high school in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she worked as the art editor for the school newspaper.  While attending Georgia State College for Women, she drew cartoons for the student newspaper.  After college, she attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she met Andrew Lytle, who first published her stories in the Sewanee Review.  She published two novels and one short story collection during her short lifetime; a second short story collection was published shortly after her death.  Posthumously, seven books have been published containing her letters, book reviews, journal entries, cartoons, and short prose.  In 2000, Flannery O'Connor was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Terry Kay (1938 – 2020)

To Dance With the White Dog

Kay, Terry.  To Dance With the White Dog.  Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Ltd., 1993.  Fifth printing.  First published in 1990, the novel began as a nonfiction celebration of Kay's parents' marriage.  Kay's father was visited by a white dog after his wife's death, and Kay decided to fictionalize his parent's long, loving relationship and the event with the white dog to tell a universal love story.  The novel was adapted to a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie in 1993 starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, for which Cronyn won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

Terry Kay was born in Royston, Georgia, in 1938.  He began his career as a writer and critic for the Dekalb Decatur News and the Atlanta Journal before becoming a novelist.  His first novel, The Year the Lights Came On, was published in 1976; his second novel, After Eli (1981) earned him the Georgia Writer's Association award for Author of the Year.  To Dance with the White Dog garnered Kay the Southeastern Library Association's Outstanding Author of the Year distinction in 1991, and the book was twice nominated for the American Booksellers Association's Book of the Year award.  He authored 14 novels, a juvenile Christmas story, 2 nonfiction books, a play, a teleplay, as well as the adaptations of three of his novels to film.  In 2006, Kay was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Alice Walker (b. 1944)

The Temple of My Familiar

Walker, Alice.  The Temple of My Familiar.  San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.  First edition.  Walker's fifth novel interweaves stories of its five central characters; it is told through multi-perspective narration as each character tells her or his own story.  Celie and Shug, the main characters of The Color Purple (1982), Walker's third and best-known novel, appear as supporting characters, though The Temple of My Familiar is not a sequel.  This copy is signed and dated by the author on the half title page.

Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1944.  She attended segregated schools there through high school and graduated as class valedictorian from the only Black high school in the town.  Much of her fiction, like The Temple of My Familiar and The Color Purple (1982), takes place in unnamed Southern places which resemble her middle Georgia upbringing.  The Color Purple earned her the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.  She has published 13 novels and short story collections, 11 poetry collections, and 11 nonfiction books.  In 2001, Walker was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Michael Bishop (1945 – 2023)

No Enemy But Time

Bishop, Michael.  No Enemy But Time.  New York: Timescape/Simon & Schuster, 1982.  John Monegal (aka Joshua Kampa), a black American who regularly has intense dreams of prehistoric Africa, is invited to join a top-secret government time travel project.  He is sent back millions of years into the past to central Africa, where he joins a tribe of protohumans.  When he returns to his present-day reality, the reader is left with an unanswered question: was it time travel or a dream?  No Enemy But Time won the 1982 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Brittle Innings

Bishop, Michael.  Brittle Innings.  New York: Bantam Books, 1994.  Brittle Innings is a sequel of sorts to Frankenstein.  Frankenstein's monster makes his way to the American South during World War II and joins a minor league baseball team in Georgia.  The story confronts racism, misogyny, and other social ills against the backdrop of war while also enjoying the great American pastime.  Brittle Innings won the 1995 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Michael Lawson Bishop lived most of his adult life in Pine Mountain, Georgia.  He earned his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in English from the University of Georgia.  He joined its English department faculty in 1972, but two years later devoted himself to writing full time.  Georgia is a frequent setting for Bishop's fiction; several of his novels and short stories take place throughout present-day Georgia while others occur in futuristic Atlanta.  He won multiple writing awards including 2 Nebula Awards, the Locus Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award.  He authored 15 solo novels, 3 collaborative novels, 11 story collections, 2 poetry collections, over 150 pieces of short fiction, and many essays.  In 2018, Bishop was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

 

Becky Albertalli (b. 1982)

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Albertalli, Becky.  Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.  New York: Balzer + Bray, 2015.  First edition.  Albertalli's debut novel tells the story of Simon and his online relationship with "Blue," another student at his high school who has not yet revealed his identity.  In a climactic scene, Blue finally reveals himself as a known character throughout the story.  Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda was adapted to film as Love, Simon in 2018, starring Nick Robinson as Simon and Keiynan Lonsdale as Bram/"Blue."  The movie was filmed in multiple locations throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area.  This copy is signed by the author on the title page.

Becky Albertalli was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1982.  She and her family still reside in the Atlanta metropolitan area.  A former psychologist, she left her practice in 2012 with the birth of her first son and decided to pursue writing as a career.  Her first novel, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, was published three years later.  Simon earned Albertalli the 2105 William C. Morris Award from the American Library Association and the 2017 German Youth Literature Prize.  She has published 9 novels, 3 of which were co-authored with other writers.  In addition to Simon being adapted to film, the movie rights to two of her other novels have been purchased and are in development.

 

Taylor Brown (b. 1982)

Wingwalkers

Brown, Taylor.  Wingwalkers.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2022.  This fictional story is inspired by an anecdote in William Faulkner's biography, in which Faulkner meets two barnstormers funding their cross-country journey by performing daredevil arial shows.  Brown follows his biplane pilot, Zeno, and his wingwalking wife, Della, as they cheat death along the way from Georgia to Hollywood, where Della dreams of living.  The novel builds up to their chance meeting with Faulkner in New Orleans.

Taylor Brown was born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1982.  He grew up on the Georgia coast and attended the University of Georgia.  After some international travel, he settled in Savannah, Georgia.  He published his first short stories in 2008.  He has published six novels and one short story collection.  He is a recipient of the Montana Prize for Fiction and has been a finalist for several writing awards, including being a three-time finalist for the Southern Book Prize.  In 2021, Taylor Brown was named Georgia Author of the Year by the Georgia Writers Association.