Chapter 41 - The Familiar

If you have been reading this blog for awhile you know that I have made it a habit to go to the Savannah Book Festival every year. The one in 2025 will be my eleventh year attending. Some years I have gone alone, other years I've had either one or two of my daughters with me. I start planning the trip about this time of year as this is when SBF begins to release the names of authors who will be speaking.

There are a number of book festivals in close proximity to where we live. There is the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, the Charleston Literary Festival, the Pat Conroy Literary Festival in Beaufort and at least four in North Carolina. While they are all intriguing to me, it is always Savannah which holds my heart.

Generally the event is held on the weekend closest to Valentine's Day. I say generally because in 2025, it will be held on the weekend before Valentine's Day - February 6 - 9. Savannah is a perfect place for this event as it teems with hotels, fine restaurants, a lovely river walk and lots of other enticing activities for tourists. It is also a very walkable city. I schedule the hotel in advance, figure out what restaurants we want to go to, and make flight arrangements, if required. Thursday night of the festival is an opening speaker, Friday night, a keynote speaker, and Saturday a collection of authors at different venues just waiting to talk about their books and tell us their stories. On Sunday, there is a closing speaker as well. While the other events are paid, Saturday is free to the public and boy, does the public turn out.

In the past I have seen authors as varied as Cassandra King, Grady Hendrix, T.J. Klune, and Karen Robards. I try to see the authors I really like and to read their books before I hear them speak. This year I am less familiar with the authors than usual but I feel that the festival gives me a chance to meet some new literary friends. Here are some authors who have caught my eye as I continue to plan for this event.

Denny S. Brice - Brice is the author of The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander. Inspired by a 1920's scandal the book is about a forbidden interracial marriage and the journalist and family member who fight to learn the truth.

Leigh Bardugo - Leigh Bardugo's latest book is The Familiar and when I told our daughter Claire that Bardugo was to be in Savannah, she was very excited. The Familiar takes place in 1600's Spain where a scullery maid, Luzia Cotado, uses magic to get through her days. Forced by her mistress to perform parlor tricks for the nobility, Luzia is noticed by an unscrupulous secretary to the king who will do all in his power to make his name known.

Valerie Bauerlein - I always seem to have some nonfiction writer in the mix and Bauerlein has written The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty. Both T.I.Lowe and Marybeth Whalen have told me what a good book it is. Alex Murdaugh who is currently in prison for killing his wife, son, and the maid, was the apparently the product of many years of evil within the Murdaugh family.

Keren Blankfeld - This author was an investigative journalist for many years. Blankfeld's book Lovers in Auschwitz: A True Story sounds amazing and impossible. I think it is so important for us to read these stories as there are so few of that generation left.

Carole Hopson - Carole Hopson's book is A Pair of Wings. Carole is a remarkable woman in her own right as an airline pilot for United Airlines. Her book is about Bessie Coleman, daughter of sharecroppers, and the first black female pilot.

Peter Swanson - Swanson' s latest book is A Talent for Murder but he is a well known name on the thriller scene. In this book a woman may be married to a serial killer. The more she digs, the more she is alarmed to discover and the more she is convinced of her husband's guilt.

So those are the people and books on my list so far. If you are interested in the Savannah Book Festival, I suggest you start planning soon. The SBF planners release 5 author names every Tuesday until all have been named. You can follow them by going to www.savannahbookfestival.org