Southern LitFest 2024: Where Literature, Nature and Art Intersect
Pictured above is Sean Dietrich (left) with Joe Arnotti of the Newnan Cultural Arts Commission.
By KATIE ANDERSON, Out and About
Newnan Carnegie Library held its third Southern LitFest in June (7-8), to the delight of packed crowds and venues.
Director Susan Crutchfield said that this event is the largest fundraiser of the year for the Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation. They were excited to partner with the Newnan Cultural Arts Commission this year. “If you attend a Carnegie or Cultural Arts Commission event, it might not have happened without Southern LitFest!” she commented.
The festivities kicked off on Friday night with Hometown Novel Night, Unplugged, where 40 regional authors gathered on the Square, with DJ Alan Ray performing. The kickoff was co-hosted by Hometown Novel Writers Association.
Saturday morning, Newnan Theatre Company’s “Children’s Academy Kids” wrote, designed, and produced an adaptation of Aesop’s Fables for Newnan’s children.
The 2024 theme for Southern LitFest was “Unplugged.”
“Based on the theme, we had a couple of key authors we wanted to invite and then we found others that fit the theme,” said Crutchfield. This year’s LitFest authors converged where literature, nature, and art intersect:
Chattahoochee’s First Riverkeeper Sally Bethea
Sally Bethea
Sally Bethea chronicled some of her tales from her book Keeping the Chattahoochee. There was a time, not long ago, when our very own Chattahoochee River was so polluted, no one would get near it. Bethea and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper organization successfully took the City of Atlanta to court in the mid 90s, and worked with a bipartisan group of Atlanta leaders (including Shirley Franklin and Newt Gingrich) to make improvements.
She recounted the story of Junior Errington, of Franklin, GA, who remembered when he could drink from a crystal clean Chattahoochee of yesteryear. In her book, she wanted to tell the story of the river, but also of the people who live in the watershed.
Gwen Roland, author of Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp
Roland regaled the audience with stories of what her life off the grid was like in the 70s. Roland abandoned her doctorate when she felt it wasn’t her calling, and decided to live off the land in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp. She and her then-partner Calvin Voisin built a houseboat and lived there for 8 years, with no running water or electricity.
To support themselves, she told the audience about her jobs as a writer, fishing for crawfish, and welding in the oil fields, and got a good laugh at their unsuccessful attempts at a willow furniture business. Her connection to nature allowed her to thrive, while her award-winning book has been an invaluable resource for others who choose to live off the grid.
C.C. Lockwood, internationally acclaimed wildlife photographer
Lockwood had heard about Roland living in the Louisiana swamp, and traveled there to meet her and take photos. The photos, included in Roland’s book, also appeared in National Geographic, bringing him, Roland, and Voisin unexpected fame. They appeared again later in National Geographic’s Best 100. Lockwood also won the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, and has been featured in the Smithsonian.
Sean Dietrich, aka Sean of the South (co-hosted by the Newnan Cultural Arts Commission)
The grande finale of LitFest, Sean Dietrich entertained a full Wadsworth Auditorium with southern stories and music. An accomplished writer and musician, Sean played the guitar, banjo, fiddle, and the accordion (“today, accordion-playing ranks on the ‘lameness scale’ somewhere between identity-theft and dentistry,” said Sean.) Despite the “lameness”, his performance earned him an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd.
Dietrich has written 15 books, created the Sean of the South podcast, and has contributed to Newsweek, Southern Living, Reader’s Digest, Garden and Gun, and more.
