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April 23-25, 2027

Word of South

Brad Watson

Brad Watson is the author of two collections of stories and the novel The Heaven of Mercury, which was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award. His fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Granta, Ecotone, Electric Literature, and the Idaho Review, among other publications. He teaches at the University of Wyoming, Laramie. Since 2002, Brad had been trying […]

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Lu Vickers

Lu Vickers is the author of one novel and several books on Florida history, including Weeki Wachee, Thirty Years of Underwater Photography, and Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, both of which received Florida Book awards: She has also received three Individual Artists Grants from Florida’s Division of Cultural Affairs for fiction. In 2014, as she was in […]

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Vandaveer

Vandaveer is the song-singing, record-making, globetrotting project penned and put forth by Kentucky-based tunesmith Mark Charles Heidinger. With poignant, everyman narratives and striking, folk-based harmonies, Vandaveer loosely falls under the Americana umbrella, but the band regularly elbows their way into wider spaces with a kaleidoscopic assortment of sounds. Vandaveer shapeshifts from stage to studio and […]

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Strand of Oaks

Strand of Oaks is the rock project by songwriter and producer Tim Showalter. Hard Love, Showalter’s latest release as Strand of Oaks, is a record that explores the balancing act between overindulgence and accountability. Recounting Showalter’s decadent tour experiences, his struggling marriage, and the near death of his younger brother, Hard Love emanates an unabashed, raw, and manic energy […]

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Minton Sparks

Minton Sparks travels extensively, performing at various universities, clubs, and music, poetry, and storytelling festivals to share her unique brand of performance poetry and creative writing workshops with audiences nationwide. This past year, Sparks appeared at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series alongside Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash, and was a featured performer at the Jonesborough International Storytelling Festival. Ruckus Films recently featured Sparks in the provocative, brilliant, one-woman show, Open Casket, alongside world-class musicians: veteran […]

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Ben Sollee

Kentucky-born cellist and composer Ben Sollee likes to keep moving. He kicked off 2014 with the release of his score for the documentary film Maidentrip. If you’ve seen him perform, you know it’s not to be missed. Over the six years following the release of his debut record, Learning to Bend, Sollee and his rugged cello, Kay, […]

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