“My impulse as a writer is to have readers enter a novel the same way you enter a dream.”–Wiley Cash
Porch Talk went to the 29th annual Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN, for a lively conversation with novelist Wiley Cash (The Last Ballad) and musical guest, singer, songwriter, and author Radney Foster (For You to See the Stars), hosted by Pat Conroy Literary Center executive director Jonathan Haupt. This Porch Talk Live session was recorded at the Nashville Public Library on Saturday, October 14, 2017.
Our thanks to the Southern Festival of Books and Humanities Tennessee for the invitation, to Wiley and Radney for a remarkable conversation and performance, to our incredible standing-room-only Nashville audience, and to the Technical College of the Lowcountry for the technical support that made this video possible.
Click Play and come join us on the Porch.
About our Porch Talk guests:
Wiley Cash is the New York Times best selling author of the novels The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind Than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy. He currently serves as the writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and teaches in the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA. He lives with his wife and two young daughters in Wilmington, North Carolina. www.wileycash.com
Radney Foster is a legendary singer and songwriter who has found commercial success and critical acclaim due in large part to his literary approach to country music. Known for penning dozens of Top Forty, Top Twenty, Top Ten hits for both himself and Nashville’s elite, he felt driven to tell stories longer than the three minutes allowed for radio. His new book For You to See the Stars is a testament to his talent, showing the diversity of his voice, bringing lyrical prose to the page, and presenting Radney Foster to a whole new audience. The CD of the same title includes the ten songs that inspired these stories. www.radneyfoster.com
About our Porch Talk interviewer:
Jonathan Haupt is the executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, the founding director of the annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival, and the former director of the University of South Carolina Press. He serves on the boards of the South Carolina Academy of Authors, Deckle Edge Literary Festival, and the Friends of South Carolina Libraries. With Nicole Seitz he is co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.