Augusta University National Writing Project’s upcoming author event aims to show Augustans how to spin a good yarn, or perhaps remind them they likely already have the gift.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer Rick Bragg is slated to speak at AU later this month to speak on southern storytelling. His bestselling memoir “All Over But the Shoutin’,” about his rough childhood in Alabama, is among 12 pieces of acclaimed nonfiction.
Several of those works, like “Prince of Frogtown” and “Ava’s Man,” are also memoirs or family histories. And much like his book “The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table,” nearly all of them both tell stories about, and explore the art of telling stories about, the region below the Mason Dixon.
Rebecca Harper, professor of language and literacy at AU and director of the Writing Project, was a fan with Bragg’s writing but had not yet heard him speak when she met him at the University of North Georgia’s Dahlonega Literary Festival in March.
“His ability to spin a tale, I mean, it’s just amazing to me,” said Harper. “I felt like he would connect well in our community, with just his Southern experience and his storytelling.”
Augusta novelist Brian Panowich moderated the talk with Bragg at the Dahlonega festival, and will do so again at AU. Panowich is the author of a series of acclaimed literary crime thrillers set in Georgia, beginning with debut novel “Bull Mountain.”
Authors have been coming to speak at AU as part of the Writing Project for some seven years, and while the public has always been welcome, most of the audiences have comprised of students and teachers.
Harper hopes the talk with Bragg will prove springboard to expand the capabilities of the lecture series to draw aspiring writers alongside educators and academics, by inviting authors to speak more about their writing process.
“I’ll tell you, everybody is a writer,” she said. “But I think there are a lot of people who aren’t quite sure what to do.”
Followers of Bragg’s work will find bylines in the likes of Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine to Southern Living and Garden & Gun, to name a few. This just might work to draw a wider audience to the lecture, in part to show the wider public that literature and letters are not just for academics, Harper says.
“Higher education is not this ivory tower … to me, it’s where we can learn from everybody. And what are institutions of higher education if they’re not meant to serve the community?” she said. “That’s why we’re here. But the gates on Walton Way become symbolic of who we let in and who we don’t. So I think it’s important that everybody has a seat.”
An Evening of Southern Storytelling: Rick Bragg in Conversation with Brian Panowich will be held at the Maxwell Theatre on Augusta University’s Summerville campus, on August 22 at 7 p.m.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
