Authors Scheduled for SFoB

A couple of weeks ago I received an email about the 2008 Southern Festival of Books which is going to be back in Nashville this year.  I love reading the list of authors scheduled to appear and thinking about which ones I would like to hear speak.  All the authors are listed at http://tn-humanities.org/festival/authors.php.  The first one that caught my eye was Sherman Alexie.  There is a short story by him in the AP Language textbook we use that I really like, and I heard an interview with him on NPR.  I’m going to have to read his new book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.    Then I will have to hear Rick Bragg even though I heard him last year read from his latest book The Prince of Frogtown.  He is just such a great speaker, and I love that I can hear his voice and accent in my head now when I read his books.  Bill Brown will be there, and I will try to hear him.  Not only is Bill Brown a great poet, but he is a great teacher, too.  Oh, me, I’m just through the B’s.  I want to hear Tony Earley, who wrote Jim the Boy; WTWP teacher-consultant Wilmoth Foreman, author of Summer of the Skunks;  Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, my favorite knitting writers and bloggers; Billie Letts because I loved Where the Heart Is; and Ann Patchett even though I haven’t had a chance to read Run yet.  Whew!  That’s a lot of writers!  I hope they aren’t all speaking at the same time.  Check out the list and let me know if there are other must sees and / or must reads.