The Paperboy meets one of his heroes

Vince Vawter and Steve Young before performance of "Paperboy."

The Paperboy meets one of his heroes

It’s been a month since the Paperboy musical had its world premiere at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. My feet are just now returning to terra firma after that remarkable weekend. I have many wonderful memories. I’ll share just one here.Stan Petree, my...
The Story Behind PAPERBOY, THE MUSICAL

Neidorff-Karpati Hall at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City

The Story Behind PAPERBOY, THE MUSICAL

My best friend from my days at Rhodes College (known as “Southwestern” at Memphis back in the day) is John Verlenden, a writer, poet, translator and retired as a tenured professor of rhetoric at the American University in Cairo. We have been friends for more than half...
Four reasons I like the Japanese cover for COPYBOY

Japanese cover of COPYBOY

Four reasons I like the Japanese cover for COPYBOY

Designing book covers is an art that would appear uncomplicated at first glance, but look at it another way: how do you tell a 60,000-word story with one image?I just received four copies of the Japanese edition of COPYBOY from its publisher, Iwanami Shoten of Tokyo....
The reason I’m giving away my books on writing

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The reason I’m giving away my books on writing

I have donated my collection of books on writing to my local library. Why? We will get to that.The books were gathered over a period of 40 years or so. I didn’t publish my first novel until 2013, but I cannot recall a time I didn’t think about telling my stories on...
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – #25

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – #25

When I was asked to write an essay for the 25th Anniversary Edition of “The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963,” I jumped at the chance. I had met Christoper Paul Curtis in 2014 in Las Vegas at the Newbery Awards presented by the American Library Association....