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Margaret Mitchell House & Museum

The Margaret Mitchell House & Museum was founded in 1990 to save and preserve the house where Margaret Mitchell lived and wrote the book Gone With the Wind. On August 1, 2004, the Margaret Mitchell House merged with the Atlanta History Center (AHC). As a result, the AHC oversees the operation of the two-acre site which includes the Margaret Mitchell House, Gone With the Wind Movie Museum, Visitors Center, Museum Shop and The Center for Southern Literature. Tours of the exhibits tell the story of Margaret Mitchell beyond the book and movie, including her journalism career, philanthropy and family history. The Center for Southern Literature, the programming division of the MMH, preserves the legacy of Margaret Mitchell through weekly literary author programs, creative writing classes for adults and youth, and the administration of the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools Program.

http://www.gwtw.org

Alice Walker: We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Tue, Nov 14, 2006

Speaking in the spirit of her latest book, We are the Ones We have been Waiting For, Alice Walker lectures at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia. Walker's We are the Ones We have been Waiting For brings us a collection of meditations that draw equally on her spiritual grounding and her progressive political convictions. Essay-style chapters conclude with a suggested meditation on patience, compassion, and forgiveness not only for ourselves but for our foes as well. Taking on some of the greatest challenges of our times, Walker encourages readers to have faith that despite the overwhelming situations we find ourselves in, we are prepared to create positive change. **Alice Walker** is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple and one of the most prominent novelists of her generation. Walker is also a bestselling non-fiction writer whose work has been widely praised.

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French Women for All Seasons

Thu, Jan 11, 2007

Mireille Guiliano, author of the best seller, French Women Don't Get Fat, discusses her newest book French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasure. French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasure is a guide, showing how to savor all life's moments in moderation, in season, and, above all, with pleasure. Brimming with fresh advice and seasonal stories, Guiliano's latest focuses on food bien sur (more than 100 delicious new recipes) but also on many other aspects of living that should bring us pleasure, such as picking a wine, dressing well, and even arranging flowers. **Mireille Guiliano** was born and raised in France. President and CEO of Clicquot, Inc (LVMH), she splits her year between New York and Paris. Her first book, French Women Don't Get Fat, has appeared in 37 languages.

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Kinfolks: Search for My Melungeon Ancestors

Tue, May 8, 2007

Lisa Alther chronicles her search for the missing branches of her family tree in *Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree, The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors*. Alther's mother hailed from New York, her father from Virginia, and every day they reenacted the Civil War at home. Then a babysitter with bad teeth warned Alther about the Melungeons: six-fingered child-snatchers who hid in caves. Forgetting about these creepy kidnappers until she had a daughter of her own, Alther learned they were actually an isolated group of dark-skinned people, often with extra thumbs, living in East Tennessee. Learning that a cousin had his extra thumbs removed, she set out to discover who these mysterious Melungeons really were, and why her grandmother wouldn't let her visit their Virginia relatives. Were there Melungeons in the family tree? Alther assembled clues over the years, but DNA testing finally offered answers. Part sidesplitting travelogue, part how (and how not) to climb your family tree, *Kinfolks* shimmers with humor, showing just how wacky and wonderful our human family really is.

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Rue McClanahan: My First Five Husbands

Mon, Apr 23, 2007

Rue McClanahan reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in her memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older. Who can forget Rue McClanahan as the sexy Southern vixen, Blanche Devereaux, on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls? Now, the actress reveals her life with saucy wit and Southern charm in *My First Five Husbands*, an entertaining take on life and love from an irrepressible star. From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, this memoir is the irresistible story of one woman's quest to find herself. Now happily married to her soulmate, Husband #6, McClanahan is proof that many things can and do get better with age and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big.

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Pearl Cleage: Seen It All and Done the Rest

Tue, Mar 18, 2008

Pearl Cleage reads and discusses her latest book, *Seen It All and Done The Rest*.

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Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge

Mon, Apr 21, 2008

Elizabeth Strout discusses her latest book, *Olive Kitteridge*, a series of 13 interlocking tales that present a portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers. Strout creates a world that represents the entire human drama, the highs and lows of life.

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A Voyage Long and Strange: From Columbus to Plymouth Rock

Wed, May 14, 2008

Tony Horwitz discusses *A Voyage Long and Strange*, in which he attempts to understand what happened in the Americas between Columbus' arrival and the Mayflower's landing on Plymouth Rock. During this time, vikings, conquistadors, French voyageurs, among others, roamed the unknown continent in search of grapes, gold, converts, and even a cure for syphilis. Though most failed to locate their treasure, their adventures and exploits left an indelible impression on those they met, peoples who would eventually come face to face with the English settlers.

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Billie Letts: Made in the USA

Thu, Jul 17, 2008

Billie Letts discusses her new novel, *Made in the U.S.A.*, which is the story of two children who must discover how cruel, unfair, and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

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Jay Hakes: Declaring Energy Independence

Thu, Aug 14, 2008

Executive Director of the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum Jay Hakes discusses his new book, *A Declaration of Energy Independence*, which outlines seven economically and politically viable paths to energy independence. In response to the 1970s oil crisis, America developed a bipartisan energy policy that made America safer, greener, and far less dependent on foreign oil. In response to the oil crisis of the 1970s, American oil imports fell by 50% and greenhouse gas emissions dropped by nine percent in just five years. Hakes explains how this was possible, and how America can do it again?

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Charles Martin: Where the River Ends

Tue, Sep 16, 2008

Charles Martin discusses his latest novel, *Where the River Ends*. **Charles Martin** served one year at Hampton University as an adjunct professor in the English department. In 1999, he left a career in business to pursue his writing. He and his wife, Christy, live a stone's throw from the St. John's River in Jacksonville, Florida, with their three boys, Charlie, John T., and Rives. Martin is also the author of *When Crickets Cry*.

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