The Clinton Presidential Center Presents series will host acclaimed writer, author, and host of ESPN’s “TrueSouth,” John T. Edge, for a conversation and book signing on Nov. 3, at 6 p.m.
Known for his deep, nuanced exploration of Southern culture, food, and identity, Edge will discuss his highly anticipated new memoir, “House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home.” The book takes readers on a poignant quest across the Deep South from Georgia to Mississippi, charting the truth-telling and soul-searching required to love a complicated place and its people.
Edge is an essential chronicler of contemporary Southern life. His hit show, “TrueSouth,” broadcasts on the SEC Network and ESPN, where he consistently bypasses nostalgia and stereotypes to introduce viewers to the complicated, flawed, and beautiful reality of the place he calls home.
Edge’s extensive credentials include serving as the writer-in-residence for the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Mississippi, director of the Mississippi Lab, and developer of the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency set on William Faulkner’s onetime mule farm. His previous book, “The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South,” was named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Publishers Weekly, and others.
Edge earned a Master of Arts degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi and a Master of Arts degree in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College. He is the winner of the 2018 nonfiction prize from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters, was inducted into the Georgia Writer’s Hall of Fame in 2019, and is a former columnist for The New York Times and Oxford American. Since 2015, he has served as a distinguished professor of practice in the Master of Fine Arts in Narrative Nonfiction program at the University of Georgia.
The “House of Smoke” program is free and open to the public and will be held at the Clinton Presidential Center. Attendees must register online. The program will also be available on the YouTube channel on Nov. 4.
Edge will sign copies of his book immediately following the program. Attendees may purchase a copy of the book from the Clinton Museum Store, which is available for pickup during the event or post-event delivery.
The Clinton Presidential Center Presents is a partnership between the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, and the Clinton School of Public Service.
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