Where we live. It propels our beliefs. It shapes our lives. It frames our outlook.
And in literature and the arts – especially the works from where we live, the American South – it is the pre-eminent theme that connects writers, artists, and audiences from across the very wide spectrum of our experiences, our demography, and our world view.
This winter, the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries and the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians at Columbus State University join forces to celebrate the timelessness of Where We Live as seen in some of our country’s greatest literary works from today and yesterday.
This Year’s NEA Big Read Book: Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellow Tayari Jones was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where her third novel, Silver Sparrow, is set during the 1980s. It tells the story of two teenage girls who are sisters but only one knows it, as their father has kept one family public, the other a secret. “Jones explores the rivalry and connection of siblings, the meaning of beauty, the perils of young womanhood, the complexities of romantic relationships and the contemporary African-American experience.” It is “impossible to put down until you find out how these sisters will discover their own versions of family” (Los Angeles Times).
Our NEA BIG READ Author: Tayari Jones
New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones has written four novels, most recently An American Marriage. Published in 2018, An American Marriage is an Oprah’s Book Club Selection and was awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), Aspen Words Prize and an NAACP Image Award. It has been published in two dozen countries.Jones, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.
Opening Event: Wunderkind: Carson McCullers
We are pleased to present the Southeastern Premiere of this new documentary by famed German director Claudia Müller. In this illuminating portrait, we examine how Columbus, GA served as an inspiration and foundation for McCullers’ novels whose heroes and heroines were those otherwise overlooked by society (and other artists). After the screening, director Müller is expected to join us remotely from Germany to answer audience questions.
Sun. February 2 | 2:00pm
Patrick Theatre, Columbus Museum, 1251 Wynnton Road
Keynote Event: Author TAYARI JONES
“It’s among Tayari’s many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.” (Oprah Winfrey). An unforgettable evening awaits. Tayari Jones, the author of this year’s NEA BIG READ COLUMBUS novel Silver Sparrow joins us for a dose of her intellect, inspiration and compassion. She will be available for autographs following the presentation.
Fri. February 21 | 6:30pm
Riverside Theatre, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 6 W. 10th Street
Artist Presentation: Where I Live: Artist Bo Bartlett
Columbus native Bo Bartlett has earned an international reputation for his large-scale realist work depicting the heart and soul of America and the South. Join us in the eponymous gallery he helped co-found to see how our city and our region is manifest through his creativity and vision.
Tues. February 25 | 6:30pm
The Bo Bartlett Center, Corn Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 921 Front Avenue
Literary Lecture: Time and Place: Tayari Jones, Carson McCullers and the literature of the American South
Current McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians Director and Columbus State University Professor Nick Norwood joins with his predecessor at the McCullers Center, Professor Courtney George, for this entertaining discussion of our NEA Big Read book Silver Sparrow and how it’s specificity about locale and era draws directly from some of the great works of American Literature, including that of Columbus’ Carson McCullers.
Tues. February 11 | 6:30pm
Auditorium, Columbus Public Library
McCullers Literary Festival:
Each year the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians offers the Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers, a unique opportunity for authors and composers to spend up to three months living in the house where Carson grew up. This all-expenses paid fellowship allows them uninterrupted time to work on their next novel or composition. In honor of this year’s NEA Big Read, we are happy to welcome back five of those Fellowship Recipients to read or perform selections and to comment on how the concept of WHERE WE LIVE can be found in their work.
- McCullers Festival: Samuel Kọ́láwọlé and Melissa Pritchard
Samuel Kọ́láwọlé (2019 Fellowship) will read from his new novel The Road to the Salt Sea, a searing portrait of the global migration crisis.. He will be joined by Columbus resident Melissa Pritchard (2016 Fellowship) who will share from her widely acclaimed novel about Florence Nightingale Flight of the White Swan. A cocktail reception and group book signing will take place after the presentation.
Fri. February 21 | 4:30pm
Riverside Theatre, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 6 W. 10th Street
- McCullers Festival Concert: Aimee Bobruk
2018 Fellowship recipient Aimee Bobruk will perform selections from her album Malybanchia which draws its inspiration from the Mississippi River and the themes of Carson McCullers.
Fri. February 21 | 8:30pm
The Bo Bartlett Center, Corn Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 921 Front Avenue
- McCullers Festival: Panel with Tayari Jones and Fellowship Authors
Our NEA Big Read author Tayari Jones will join the five Smith Fellowship author/composers in a discussion about the hows and whys of writing and creating new work.
Sat. February 22 | 10:00am
Riverside Theatre, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 6 W. 10th Street
- McCullers Festival: Lauren Aliza Green and Snowden Wright
Award winning poet and Forbes’ “30 Under 30” honoree Lauren Aliza Green (2021 Fellowship) will read from her recently published novel The World After Alice, the gorgeous and gripping story of two families brought together by devastating tragedy and unexpected love. Joining her will be Snowden Wright (2022 Fellowship) who will share tales from his latest novel, the edgy and hilarious Southern noir thriller The Queen City Detective Agency.
Sat. February 22 | 10:00am
Riverside Theatre, Columbus State University Riverpark Campus, 6 W. 10th Street
Exhibition: A Southern Assignment: The Lasting Impact of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
In 1936, writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans accepted an assignment from the Farm Services Bureau.to photograph migrant farm workers in the South. From that beginning came one of the most influential and controversial social documentaries of the twentieth century, the photo collection/story collection known as Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. In this exhibit, Evan’s famous photographs and Agee’s complex and poetic reporting of the poverty-stricken Alabama families they visited will be seen in the context of how the book has shaped (for better or for worse) the collective view of life in the American South.
January 28 – February 26 | During Library Hours
W. C. Bradley Reading Room, Columbus Public Library
Gallery Talk: Evans, Agee, and a New Form of Social Documentary
Columbus State University Associate Professor of Photograph Rylan Steele (whose own work regularly invoke themes such as Where We Live prominently) leads this discussion about how Walker Evans and James Agee exploited their respective crafts to create the overwhelming moods of sorrow, anger and pity in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Thur. February 6 | 6:30pm
W. C. Bradley Reading Room, Columbus State University
Celebrate Columbus: Our Town’s Cultural Arts History
CELEBRATE COLUMBUS, an exhibit created by Historic Columbus, honors the rich cultural arts history of our region present since the mid-1800s. The timeline display not only covers the various performance venues (such as Temperance Hall and the Springer Opera House) but also the many nationally-known artists and creators who called our town home.
Through April 30.
Reading Hall, Columbus Public Library
The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Arts Midwest. Where We Live: NEA Big Read Columbus is presented by the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries and the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians at Columbus State University.