Bookmark with Don Noble

In this episode of Bookmark with Don Noble, acclaimed poet Andrew Hudgins joins Don Noble for a thoughtful conversation about poetry, storytelling, memory, and the experiences that shape a writer's voice. Hudgins reflects on his Southern background, the craft of writing, and the ways poetry can explore family, faith, history, humor, and the darker corners of human experience.

Don is joined by author Lee Smith to discuss her new novel set in Asheville, NC - Guests On Earth, which features Alabama native Zelda Fitzgerald. Don spoke with Lee in the Alabama Public Television studios in Montgomery, AL.

Don is joined by author Tom Franklin about his works "Hell at the Breech" and "Poachers" at the University of Mississippi.

Don visits with author Michelle Richmond to talk about her novels "The Year of Fog" and "No One You Know" at Rock Point Books in Chattanooga, TN.

After several volumes of fiction, Sena Jeter Naslund had her first great success with Ahab's Wife. Since then she has published Four Spirits, Adam and Eve, and Abundance. The latter focuses on the life of Marie Antoinette. Her new novel, The Fountain of St. James Court explores the lives of both the real life artist who painted the French queen and a fictional writer who writes her novel telling t...

Retired Birmingham police captain and birmingham historian, Thorne's most recent book is Behind The Magic Curtain -  secrets, spies and unsung white allies of Birmingham's Civil Rights days.  Don spoke to T.K. Thorne in the Digital Media Center, on campus at the University of Alabama. 

Rick Bragg won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times. Born in Piedmont, Alabama, in 1959, Mr. Bragg is the author of two best-selling memoirs, All Over But the Shoutin' and Ava's Man, as well as his newly released The Prince of Frogtown. He credits his writing ability to the oral storytelling of family and friends in his childhood in the Appalachian foot...

Alabama author Daniel Wallace joins Don Noble to talk about his new book "The Kings and Queens of Roam"

Allan Gurganus broke onto the American literary scene with a giant novel, The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All. This week Alan joins Don to talk about his collection of three novellas - Local Souls. This episode was taped at the Alabama Booksmith in Homewood, AL.

Born in Illinois the author traveled extensively as a military wife. Reading was a solace in times of strife, and led to an MFA and a career in writing. Her latest novel, her fourth, is Z, the fictionalized biography of Zelda Fitzgerald.

A North Carolina native now living in New York who as a non-fiction writer has been prolific and diverse. Sins of the Father is about a mobster in the witness protection program. American Made is his latest about the history of the New Deal's WPA program. He has also written biographies of John Glenn and Gordon Gould, the inventor of the laser, and a book on the culture of Bass Fishing.

This week Bookmark has a very special guest, Don's wife Jennifer Horne to talk about her new book on Sara Mayfield, the eccentric Tuscaloosa socialite and author.

Hank Lazer has published nineteen books of poetry, including N24 (2014) and N18 (2012), Portions (2009), The New Spirit (2005), Elegies & Vacations (2004), and Days (2002). Pages from Lazer's shape-writing handwritten notebooks have been performed with soprano saxophonist Andrew Raffo Dewar, most recently at the University of Georgia and in two concerts in Havana, Cuba. Lazer's Selected Poems in t...

Don Noble sits down with author Lauren Denton as they discuss her work along with her book "The One You're With."

Don is joined by Alabama author Daniel Wallace to talk about his novel "Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician"

Now the author of four novels, Inman Majors has shown his serious and comic sides. Swimming in Sky is a young man's coming of age novel. The Millionaires tells the story of the Bankers, two Tennessee brothers who put on the Nashville World's Fair. Wonderdog, set in Tuscaloosa, is the hilarious story of a reluctant young lawyer. While the latest, Loves Winning Plays, is a satire of both SEC footbal...

Young is an author a playwright an actress,  a social activist, an attorney,  and a MacArthur Fellow. Billie Jean Young is the author of the one-woman show This Little Light  in which she portrays the courageous civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.

Today's guest is Birmingham poet Ashley M. Jones.  Jones is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently Reparations Now!

Author Anthony Grooms, best know for his  Bombingham , a novel addressing issues faced during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.   In addition to his writing, Grooms teaches at Kennesaw State, and has also taught in Ghana and Sweden.  Don spoke with Anthony in Studio UA, on campus at the University of Alabama. 

Readers of Cassandra King novels, such as  Queen of Broken Hearts,  have come to expect variations on the story of a middle-aged woman whose life falls apart, but who was then comforted and supported by a group of loyal girlfriends.  In  Moonrise,  her newest, King has a protaganist who marries a slightly older man, a widower, and the dead wife's friends are awful to her, cold and mean.   Don spok...

R.P. Finch, after a long career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney in Atlanta, has produced a remarkable debut novel  Skin In The Game.   Set partly in the offices of a law firm, young associates fight over making partner, but it's also a racy, comic romp involving the inventing and licensing of a quantum super computer, the CIA, the mafia, and an imaginative thug entrepeneur looking to build...

Wayne Greenhaw is an Alabama institutuion.  His latest book,  The Long Journey,  is his 16th volume of prose fiction and non-fiction as a journalist.  Greenhaw covered Alabama politicis and broke the story of the My Lai Massacre.  He has written about the drug trade, the rise of the Republican Party in South Mexcio, and country music.   

Today's guest is Neal Wooten, who has written a chilling memoir of growing up on Sand Mountain.  He also works as a stand-up comedian and writes comic strips.  Don spoke with Neal in Studio UA at the University of Alabama. 

The 2014 winner of the Clarence Cason Award for Excellence in Non-Fiction has a long career in journalism at the Birmingham News and is the author of a shelf of books on Alabama.  Among the best known are  The Judge,  a biography of Frank Johnson Jr.,  Until Justice Rolls Down  the story of the 16th Street Church bombing, and  Selma Lord Selma  interviews with two little girls who lived through th...

From his debut volume  Poachers , through his novels  Hell at the Breach  and  Spunk,  Tom Franklin's reputation has grown steadily.  His newest  Crooked  is the story of a white man perhaps unjustly ostracized by his community as a murderer and the local black constable who had been his childhood friend.  Franklin and his wife the poet Beth Ann Fennelly have courageously collaborated on a novel t...