Celebrate Georgia writers this fall with a reading from the author of Erasure or with a special Italian dinner with the author of Under the Tuscan Sun.
The University of Georgia Libraries will host the two newest members of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame with special events open to the community later this year. Novelist and cookbook author Frances Mayes will be a featured guest for a plated dinner Saturday, Oct. 28, and poet Percival Everett will read his award-winning work on Thursday, Nov. 2, both at the UGA Special Collections Libraries Building in Athens.
Mayes, a native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, has written six books of poetry, several novels and cookbooks, in addition to her most well-known work, Under the Tuscan Sun, a memoir about her travels to Italy that made the New York Times bestseller list and was made into a Diane Lane-starring movie.
The Oct. 28 dinner features recipes from Mayes’ The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from our Italian Kitchen, including vegetarian options. Following a dessert of gelato and lemon cake, Ivy Odom Aponte, Southern Living editorial producer, will introduce Mayes, who will speak about her work.
Tickets are $60 per person, with proceeds supporting student internships and experiential learning opportunities at the UGA Libraries. Information about tickets, which must be purchased by Oct. 18, are available at the UGA Libraries website.
Everett’s novels, short stories, and poetry have been recognized with several PEN awards, Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, and other high honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. The native of Fort Gordon, Georgia currently serves as Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
At the Nov. 2 event, scheduled for 6 p.m., Everett will give a reading and participate in an audience Q&A. The free event is part of UGA’s Signature Lecture Series and the Spotlight on the Arts festival, and attendees are asked to RSVP.
Earlier this year, the Libraries hosted a family literary event to celebrate 2023 Georgia Writers Hall of Fame inductee Daniel Boorstin, the late historian and Librarian of Congress. For more information about the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, visit georgiawritershalloffame.org.