Novello: 10 Years of Great American Writing: An Anthology

By Novello Festival of Reading

This anthology celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Novello Festival of Reading, one of the premier literary events in the country.All of the writers in the book have appeared at Novello, which is sponsored by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, named National Library of the Year in 1995. This diverse collection of prose represents not only the best of Novello but also a sampler of some of the best writing of our time.Whether as journalists, columnists, war correspondents, or writers of fiction, memoir, and humor, the twenty-five contributors have won nearly every award a writer could covet.Some of the essays and stories in this anthology may be familiar to readers, but many appear here in print for the first time. Charles Kuralt reminisces about a time when old ways began to give way to modern life. Pat Conroy crafts a raw and wryly funny remembrance of his now-deceased father, Donald Conroy, the inspiration for The Great Santini. In his selection, David Halberstam offers a look back at his early career when he covered the civil rights upheavals in Mississippi.Novelists Lee Smith and Nanci Kincaid introduce readers to their new works in progress, and Sandra Goven, a scholar and professor of African-American literature tells a true-life story about her childhood bibliomania and where it led.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1878086871
• ISBN13: 9781878086877
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Novello Festival Pr
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Literary talents of twenty-five outstanding American authors

Under the collaborative editorship of Amy Rogers, Robert Inman, and Frye Gaillard, Novello: Ten Years Of Great American Writing is a superbly presented anthology showcasing the literary talents of twenty-five outstanding American authors drawn from the Novello Festival of Reading, a premier annual literary event. From Jerry Bledsoe, Walter Cronkite, and Charles Kuralt, to Frank McCourt, Gail Sheehy, and Tom Wolfe, Novello is a very highly recommended cornucopia of contemporary literary talent from first page to last.

Stand-out work from Pat Conroy, Lee Smith, more

I'd give this book 5 stars if for no other reason than sheer variety - there's definitely something in this anthology for everyone. Something unforgettable, at that. Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing is divided into two main sections - The Essays and The Stories. Most of the pieces revel in the intricacies of southern writing, in line with the North Carolina roots of the publisher, Novello Festival Press. The Essays kicks off with an excellent piece appearing in print for only the second time. Pat Conroy's "The Death of Santini" is a raw, honest, emotion-and-brutality-wrought story of the author's final reconciliation with the father he "wounded ... by deploying the great clairvoyance and fire-power of the English language against him." Watching and listening as Conroy struggles with his mixed feelings for "The Great Santini" is worth the price of this book. But luckily, there is more. Sandra Y. Govan gives us a marvelous story from her Chicago childhood, when books were items to be desired, craved and even (gasp!) stolen. Govan's essay is followed by pieces from Charles Kuralt, Frank McCort, Tim McLaurin and Walter Cronkite, among others. The editors have also included two moving pieces about the relationship between man and dog, from Hal Crowther and Joseph Bruchac, and an of-the-moment excerpt from Gail Sheehy's latest, Hillary's Choice - a richly informative portrayal of our nation's first lady and New York's senator-elect as she and her husband come under fire. Part Two: The Stories begins with Jill McCorkle's "Crash Diet," the story of a woman's reaction when her marriage falls apart on her fifth wedding anniversary. The Stories goes on to include pieces from Ashley Warlick, Clyde Edgerton, Dori Sanders, Tom Wolfe and, notably, promising excerpts from not-yet-published novels by Lee Smith and Nanci Kincaid. In the end, Novello: Ten Years of Great American Writing reads like a primer on modern southern literature, with a few ventures north of the Mason-Dixon line.