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News - August, 2003 |
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Call for Papers | Contests | Old News
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Rock Legendary Producer Sam Phillips Dies
Sam Phillips (1923-2003), credited with discovering Elvis Presley and sparking the careers of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, B. B. King and many others through his Sun Records label, died July 30, 2003 in Memphis, TN. He was 80. The Associated Press listed the cause of death as respiratory failure. Phillips sold Sun Records in 1962 and went into the radio business. He was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Ellen Burstyn to play Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tell All on Broadway
Southern Book Awards Announced A biography of acclaimed writer Zora Neale Hurston and two novels are this year's winners of the Southern Book Awards presented by the Southern Book Critics Circle. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston (Scribner) by Atlanta writer Valerie Boyd picked up the nonfiction award. It is the first full-length biography of Hurston, the influential novelist, folklorist and anthropologist from Eatonville, Fla., whose works and reputation have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Lee Smith and Brad Watson are co-winners of the fiction award. Smith's The Last Girls (Algonquin) centers on several middle-aged women who take a reunion trip down the Mississippi. Watson's Heaven of Mercury (Norton) tells the story of a small Southern town through its inhabitants' lives. The awards will be presented October 11, 2003 at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee. The Southern Book Critics Circle, composed of book editors and reviewers at newspapers and magazines in the South, also named two finalists in each category: My Losing Season by Pat Conroy and Sons of Mississippi by Paul Hendrickson for nonfiction; I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down by William Gay and The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton for fiction. Library of Virginia to Present Lifetime Achievement Award to Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Louis D. Rubin, Jr. is the recipient of the Library of Virginia Lifetime Achievement Award. Rubin has taught and influenced a generation of Virginia writers. Born in South Carolina, he is an acclaimed literary critic, novelist and historian and is considered one of the most influential figures in contemporary Southern literature. The founder and president of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, he taught at Hollins College(1957-1967) and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1967-1989). A 1946 graduate of the University of Richmond, Rubin received the Distinguished Virginian Award in 1972 and in 1974 was awarded a Litt. D. from the University of Richmond. The author or editor of more than 50 titles, Rubin's latest book My Father's People: A Family of Southern Jews is a loving tribute and candid portrait of his paternal grandparents. The Library of Virginia and the Library of Virginia Foundation are pleased to announce the finalists for the 6th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:
The winners will be announced on Saturday, September 20, 2003 at the 6th Annual Library of Virginia Awards Celebration Honoring Virginia Authors & Friends. For ticket information, please call 804/371-4795.
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