Yesterday, Lee Smith and I were on the program at The Margaret Mitchell House. The title of our program was “Crossing The Line.” We each gave a short reading and then talked to each other about what it means to be a southern woman writer today.
If you have ever been around Lee Smith, you know what a dynamic presence she is. We talked aout the hard stuff and even managed to make it funny. I think we established that there is such a thing as southern writing– there is so much common ground between us despite the obvious differences of generation, race, urban/rural. I am usually fairly apprehensive about the question of “what is universal”, but talking with Lee Smith made me think that real connections that cross the line are indeed possible.
The crowd at the Margaret Mitchell House was sparkling and just plain fun. The Atlanta Writers Club was in attendance, the Margaret Mitchell subcribers, and just regular folk. Several members of this blog community showed up– which always pleases me. I took lots of photos, but I lost my page with everyone’s name and correct spelling. So, if you see yourself and the name is wrong or mangled, email me and I will fix it right away.
Well, I am tired tired tired. It’s only day 2 of AWP. I don’t know if I have what it takes to make it through Saturday.
Photo album.