" In The Company of Masters" Part TWO.............RICK BRAGG

As I continue with my story of an afternoon spent learning
from two Masters of the written word, I must say that these
two authors are as different as a day and night. Having read
and enjoyed works by both, I already knew this. Both of the
books I'd read by Rick Bragg, "All Over But The Shout'n"
and " Ava's Man" were chock full of humor. The storyteller
in the flesh was hilarious! This guy was born to tell a story!



During the introduction of Rick Bragg we learned that he
is the 2009 recipient of "Alabama's Harper Lee Award for
Literary Excellence"! Now that is impressive !!



A born storyteller? I had not thought about this before his
class, but how many people can take their family story, an
everyday story of a" hard row to hoe" and turn it into a series
of three bestselling books? He did, and he did so because he
knows how to tell a story so that the reader is engaged from
the first word to the last.

His first book " All Over But The Shout'n" is his Mother's story

of falling in love with "the bad boy" and the hard struggle of

having to raise her three little boys alone because of it. An

absolute wonderful read!

" Ava's Man", the second book in the series is about his maternal

Grandfather, the man he felt was the greatest man he ever knew!

You will understand why after you read it!

His latest book" The Prince of Frogtown" is the third and final

of the series detailing the life of the bad boy father he never got

to know. I have not read this one but could tell by the questions

from others in the class about this book, that is will be a great read.

I did purchase it and he signed it!

I have to say this was a wonderful 90 minutes! He is truly

a joy to listen to and such an humble, intelligent guy! I would

never hesitate to sit through another class with the Master

Of non-fiction storytelling, Rick Bragg ! A true Southern Writer!

" In The Company Of Masters " Part ONE............... John Berendt.. .

As most of you are aware, I went down to New Orleans
yesterday to attend two of the Master Classes in the
Tennessee Williams Literary Festival. The two I chose
were two of my favorite authors whom I believe to be
true Masters of their craft, John Berendt and Rick Bragg!
Part One: JOHN BERENDT................


I doubt that there is anyone reading this blog who has not
read his Pulitzer Nominated Bestseller:
" Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil" or at least
seen the movie..........
I knew about Savannah before John's book came out due
to Eugenia Price, one of my favorite historical fiction authors.
I had read all of her books which are based in this area.
It was John's book however that made me fall deeply in love
with Savannah and long to experience it for myself!

Savannah herself IS the main character of "Midnight"
His class yesterday was about:
" Capturing The Character of Place"..............




The room where these Master Classes were held was
like stepping back in time to the parlor of a beautiful
antebellum mansion...........
The room filled to capacity and over flowing with
literary minded people ! I felt so blessed to be there!







We listened intently as the accomplishments of our Master
teacher were heralded and he was introduced ........







Now all of you know how partial I am to Southern Writers!
They are a special breed, myself included. I often say
" we write with a need to fix the wrongs" especially those
of us from the "deep south" where so much pain and misery
is attached to the backbone of slavery and the civil rights era.
John is not from the south but he truly understands her!
I learned from him that there are, 150 different southern
accents and that in writing place, you have to get it right!




Here John reads the Eudora Welty story:
" Where Is The Voice Coming From"
Eudora wrote this story the night Civil Rights
Leader, Medgar Evers was gunned down in his
front yard in front of his wife and children. It is
a perfect example of capturing "place" as it turned
out to be an exact literary profile of the killer who
at the time of her writing, was unknown!


Tennessee Williams(1911-1983)
Eudora Welty(1901-2001)
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
These three Masters are all Mississippi Writers.
I was very proud to discover that these three along
with Alabama's Master, Walker Percy(1916-1990)
and Georgia's Master, Flannery O'Connor(1925-1964)
are the Master's who have influenced his writing!


John Berendt.....................
" If you are writing place, you must create it!
Smell it, taste it, feel the wind, hear it. When
you have captured the place, the characters
will step out and take over"




During the signing, we had an interesting
occurrence. John had never seen this slick
face paperback version of his second book!
He believes it to be a special printing and I
at that moment, wasn't sure where I'd bought it.
Later I remembered that I had actually bought
it in an antique shop in Savannah!



It was truly a wonderful experience to listen and learn
from the man whose writing I so admire! However the
best part was standing next to him to have a picture with
him to add to my collection! I have never been photogenic
but he looks awesome!




John assured me he would be visiting The Writer's Porch
to view this post, so please leave a comment if you are a
fan of this Literary Master!


For all of us John Berendt fans........we have been to Savannah
and Venice, and due to a few hints........I believe we will be in the
magical city of New Orleans next!

" A Bad Knee and A Change of Plans"

Due to a hurting right knee and a forecast of severe weather,
I've had a change of plans........just temporary though......
Instead of going to this beautiful place today...........




And Staying in this beautiful room
tonight and tomorrow night.................

Sleeping in this gorgeous Antique bed....

In this wonderful Bed & Breakfast

On Friday I will go down to New Orleans for the day

to attend two of the Master Series Classes................

One class is with John Berendt.......................

Author of ....................

" Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil...

And................

"The City of Falling Angels"

The other class is with..............

Rick Bragg............

Author of...................

" All Over But The Shoutin' "

And.................

" Ava's Man"

I own and have read all four of these books.

All are great reads. I give 5 stars to each!

John's are based on TRUE stories..........

Rick's are autobiographical of his childhood

growing up in the south but read like novels.

I'm looking forward to meeting the authors

as I have long admired their work!

I'll take lots of pictures..............

And.......next week, I will do all of the

above, same room, same bed in Natchez!