RICK BRAGG, South Bound Distinguished Lectures

Southern Lit Alliance will host Rick Bragg, acclaimed author and journalist, on Thursday, January 21, 2016 at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. This special event will kick off So Lit’s premiere South Bound distinguished lecture series, which features renowned and emerging voices in current American literature.

The event schedule consists of a “happy hour” with Bragg for VIP ticket-holders at 4 PM, a book signing at 5 PM, followed by his reading at 6 PM. Please note that there will be no book signing after the presentation as Bragg is the special guest of a fundraising dinner for Southern Lit Alliance at Easy Bistro beginning at 7:30 PM.

General Admission tickets begin at $50. There is a student ticket available for $30. VIP tickets, which include happy hour, reserved seating, and fast track super powers at the book signing are $75. Tickets for the So Lit Dinner with Bragg cost $150 and include a hardback copy of My Southern Journey, drinks, and a five-course dinner prepared with local ingredients at Easy Bistro on Broad Street.

Rick Bragg won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times. Bragg is the author of three bestselling memoirs, ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN', AVA'S MAN, and THE PRINCE OF FROGTOWN. Most recently he has published JERRY LEE LEWIS: HIS OWN STORY, a biography of the famous rock and roller, and MY SOUTHERN JOURNEY, a collection of his best essays about the South.

Bragg became a domestic correspondent in the Atlanta office of the New York Times in 1994. In his reporting he has covered murders and unrest in Haiti, the Oklahoma City bombing, and more. Besides his Pulitzer Prize, he is the recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award and 31 other national, regional, and state writing awards. He is now a writing professor at the University of Alabama’s journalism program in its College of Communications and Information Sciences.

Individual tickets and Season Subscriptions are available now. To view the lineup and buy tickets, please visit So Lit’s newly designed website: www.SouthernLitAlliance.org, or call (423) 267-1218