{"id":7707,"date":"2026-10-05T20:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/?p=7707"},"modified":"2026-10-05T20:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:37:49","slug":"english-sfb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/english-sfb\/","title":{"rendered":"English Department joins Southern Festival of Books &#8211; October 17-18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7709\" src=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/10\/SFB-fox2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/10\/SFB-fox2.png 263w, https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/10\/SFB-fox2-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sofestofbooks.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Southern Festival of Books<\/a>, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humanitiestennessee.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Humanities Tennessee<\/a>, will connect celebrated authors from wide-ranging genres with a vast community that shares their passion for creative expression. Many writers and performers with Vanderbilt ties will be featured at the annual literary festival, which returns to the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Tennessee State Museum, and Tennessee State Library and Archives October 17\u201318. Admission is free.<\/p>\n<p>Some highlights from the English Department:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>MFA Student Reading featuring <strong>Josie Abugov, Christiana Castillo,<\/strong> <strong>Nain Christopherson, Kinsale Drake, Danielle Emerson, Virginia Kane, Lana Reeves, Kanchi Sharma<\/strong> on October 18, 1:00 PM<\/li>\n<li>MFA Faculty Reading featuring <strong>Su Cho<\/strong>,<strong> Didi Jackson<\/strong>,<strong> Rick Hilles<\/strong> on October 17, 1:00 PM<\/li>\n<li><em>I Would Define the Sun <\/em>by <strong>Stephanie Niu,<\/strong> who was awarded the 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/vuliteraryprize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vanderbilt Literary Prize<\/a>. She will appear with <strong>Melissa Range,<\/strong> the 2025 Prize honoree and author of <em>Printer\u2019s Fist<\/em>, to share some of their work. The presentation is at 3:00 PM on October. 17 in the Tennessee State Library\u2019s Nolichucky Room.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/bio\/lydi-conklin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Lydi Conklin<\/strong><\/a>, assistant professor of English, at 3:00 PM\u00a0 in the Tennessee State Library\u2019s Obion Room. Her debut novel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/772150\/songs-of-no-provenance-by-lydi-conklin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Songs of No Provenance<\/em><\/a>, is an exploration of queer identity and the role of art in becoming one\u2019s self.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/bio\/emily-lordi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Emily Lordi<\/strong><\/a>, Edwin Mims Professor of English and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/holding-lightning-emily-lordi?variant=44726161211426\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston<\/em><\/a>, at 10:00 AM in the Tennessee State Museum\u2019s Sequatchie Room. <em>Holding Lighting <\/em>is the first full-length biography of the superstar singer and actress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/news\/\">RECENT NEWS<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 Southern Festival of Books, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee, will connect celebrated authors from wide-ranging genres with a vast community that shares their passion for creative expression. Many writers and performers with Vanderbilt ties will be featured at the annual literary festival, which returns to the Bicentennial Capitol Mall&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":7708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,19,18],"tags":[5],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-05-142202.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7707"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7718,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7707\/revisions\/7718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}