Book Folks: U of M writers series opens

MattheaHarvey

Uh-oh, dueling poets on Thursday.

How often does that happen in the Bluff City?

Not since February 2003, when Nikki Giovanni was scheduled to read at the University of Memphis the same night -- a Thursday as it happens -- as Yusef Komunyakaa was going to be at Rhodes College. Tough decision time, except that Komunyakaa canceled the week before the events took place, so the pressure was off.

Ellen BryantVoigt

MattheaHarvey

We trust that, despite the conflict, no such cancellation will mar either of these appearances.

So, Ellen Bryant Voigt will be at the University of Memphis Thursday as the first author in the River City Writers Series. She will be the subject of an interview with students at 10:30 a.m. in Patterson Hall ("The English Building"), Room 456; at 7 p.m., she will read from her work in Room 219 of the Fogelman Executive Center. The reading will be preceded by a reception at 6 p.m.

Voigt's most recent publications in poetry include "Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006" (2008); "Shadow of Heaven" (2003); and "Lotus Flowers" (2000). She is author of "The Flexible Lyric," a collection of essays on craft (1999), and "Poets Teaching Poets: Self and the World" (1996). Since 1981, Voigt has taught in the master of fine arts writing program at Warren Wilson College.

Meanwhile, Matthea Harvey will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. in the Tuthill Performance Hall of Hassell Hall on the Rhodes College campus. Harvey's collections of poetry are "Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form" (2000), "Sad Little Breathing Machine" (2004) and "Modern Life" (2007); she has also published a children's book, "The Little General and the Giant Snowflake" (2007). Harvey teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

These events are free and open to the public.

Three at Davis-Kidd

This is a startling figure: Only 5 percent of drivers know how to change a tire. If you want to maintain your car properly, do minor repairs yourself and recognize when it's time to call the garage -- that broken sewing machine sound coming from under the hood is a good hint -- you might want to tap into "Lauren Fix's Guide to Loving Your Car" (St. Martin's Griffin, $17). Fix, a race-car driver since 1981, will be at Davis-Kidd Booksellers Tuesday at 6 p.m. to sign the book and perhaps impart a few tips about car-care. Her previous books are "Driving Ambitions -- A Complete Guide to Amateur Auto Racing" and "The Performance Tire and Wheel Handbook."

Wednesday at 6 p.m., popular novelist Haywood Smith -- of "Red Hat Club" fame -- will appear at Davis-Kidd to sign her new book, "Wedding Belles" (St. Martin's Press, $25). Smith, who lives in Buford, Ga., is author of "Queen Bee of Mimosa Beach," "The Red Hat Club" and "The Red Hat Club Rides Again." Her novels inspired "Red Hat Clubs" all over the place.

Maybe it's not a question of finding the mythical "Mr. Right"; maybe the problem is "Why Mr. Right Can't Find You," as the title of the book by J.M. Kearns has it (John Wiley & Sons, $16). Kearns, who lives in Nashville, will appear at Davis-Kidd Saturday at 1 p.m. to sign the book.

Davis-Kidd is at 387 Perkins Ext. in Laurelwood. Call 683-9801.

To submit items to Book Folks, fax to 529-2787 or e-mail koeppel@commercialappeal.com.

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