Presidential biographer Jon Meacham to headline 2026 Southern Voices Festival

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Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning political historian, will be the keynote speaker for the 2026 Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library in February.

Meacham is scheduled to give a talk in the Hoover Library Theatre on Friday, Feb. 27.

The following day’s authors conference will feature veteran psychological thriller writer Hank Phillippi Ryan, mystery writer Megan Abbott, historical fiction author Ariel Lawhon, debut fiction authors Rickey Fayne and Robert Gwaltney, horror writer Lindy Ryan and romantic comedy author Katherine Center.

While the Southern Voices Festival dates back to 1993, this is the first year the festival has ever had someone who specializes in horror, Chairwoman Carrie Steinmehl said. However, regardless of what type of genre people enjoy, there’s a little something for everyone, she and co-chairwoman Stephanie Beaver said.

But Southern Voices isn’t just about books. The festival also highlights art and musical voices.

Tennessee painter Christina Renfer Vogel is this year’s featured artist, whose work will be on view and celebrated with an artist talk and reception on Thursday, Feb. 19.

From the music world, Grammy Award winners Marty Raybon and Linda Davis are teaming up with newer voice Mitch Rossell for a “Heart Behind the Music” country songwriters’ showcase on Feb. 25-26.

Tickets went on sale in September for the musical act along with the rest of the Hoover Library Theatre season, but tickets for the rest of the Southern Voices Festival go on sale at 10 a.m. on Jan. 13.

Tickets for the Friday night talk by Meacham cost $40 and, for the first time, include a copy of Meacham’s latest book, “American Struggle,” which is slated to come out in January. Tickets for the Saturday authors conference are $45, and tickets for the songwriters’ showcase with Raybon, Davis and Rossell cost $40.

Tickets can be purchased online at southernvoices.info, by phone at 205-444-7888 or in person at the Hoover Library Theatre box office at 200 Municipal Drive. The artist talk and reception with Vogel is free to attend.

Here’s more about each of the featured authors, musicians and artist, based on information from their websites and the Hoover Public Library:

JON MEACHAM

Meacham, a biographer, journalist, lecturer and book publisher, has had numerous books on The New York Times bestsellers list, including “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” which won the Pulitzer Price for biography in 2009.

Another Meacham biography,” And There was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle,” spent 16 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and has been honored with numerous awards, including the 2023 Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award.

His biography on President George W. Bush, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” was named one of the 10 best books of the year by The Washington Post and one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Time, National Public Radio and the St. Lous Post-Dispatch.

Other books by Meacham that made The New York Times bestseller list include:

  • “His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope”
  • “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels”
  • “The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross”
  • “Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest and the Music That Made a Nation”
  • “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power”
  • “American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation”
  • “Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship”

Meacham also is the editor of two volumes: “Voices in Our Blood: America’s Best on the Civil Rights Movement” and “In the Hands of the People,” an anthology of Jefferson’s writings.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Society of American Historians and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair and Garden & Gun. He also has been a regular guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” talk show and other broadcasts.

A native of Chattanooga, Meacham started his career with The Chattanooga Times. He also is a former editor of The Washington Monthly and Newsweek, is a former executive editor at Random House and currently is a contributing editor at Time. He lectures widely in the United States on history, politics and religion and is the canon historian of Washington National Cathedral and Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University.

He lives in Nashville and Sewanee with his wife and children.

Meacham graduated from The University of the South in Sewanee in 1991, and Steinmehl said she made sure to point out to Meacham when she recruited him for Southern Voices that she is a graduate of that university as well.

“I have known about him forever and ever,” Steinmehl said. “I was just excited that we were able to get him because he is one of the leading historians on American History. He’s just a distinguished person all around.”

ARIEL LAWHON

Lawhon, a historical fiction author, also has made the New York Times bestsellers list. Her novels include: “The Frozen River,” “Code Name Helene,” “I Was Anastasia,” “Flight of Dreams,” “The Wife,” “The Maid,” “The Mistress” and “Barriers To Entry” (an Amazon original short story). Her books have been translated into numerous languages and have been selected for the Good Morning America Book Club, Library Reads, One Book One County, Indie Next, Costco, Amazon Spotlight and Book of the Month Club. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville with her husband and four sons and splits her time between the grocery store and the baseball field. Steinmehl said she tried to get Lawhon at Southern Voices last year, but she was unable to come because she was finishing her latest book, “The Frozen River.”

MEGAN ABBOTT

Abbott won the Edgar Award, given annually by the Mystery Writers of America for the best mystery writing, in 2008 for her novel “Queenpin,” and has been nominated for the Edgar Award four other times. Her other novels include “Beware the Woman,” “The Turnout,” “Give Me Your Hand,” “You Will Know Me,” “The Fever,” “Dare Me,” “The End of Everything,” “Bury Me Deep,” “The Song Is You” and “Die a Little.” Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times Magazine and The Believer. Her stories have appeared in multiple collections, including the Best American Mystery Stories of 2014 and 2016. Her work has won or been nominated for the CWA Steel Dagger, the International Thriller Writers Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Formerly a staff writer on HBO's David Simon show, “The Deuce,” she is now co-creator, executive producer and showrunner of “Dare Me,” based upon her novel, for the USA Network and, internationally, Netflix. Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her doctorate in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-14, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at Ole Miss.

KATHERINE CENTER

BookPage calls Center, an author of romantic comedies, as “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She’s The New York Times bestselling author of over half a dozen books, including “How to Walk Away,” “Things You Save in a Fire” and “What You Wish For.” Center writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks people down—and how to get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless best-of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2019 and Goodreads' Best Books of the Year. Bestselling author Emily Henry calls Center’s summer 2022 book, “The Bodyguard,” “a shot of pure joy.” The movie adaptation of Center’s novel “The Lost Husband” (starring Josh Duhamel) hit No. 1 on Netflix, and her novel “Happiness for Beginners” is in production now as a Netflix original starring Ellie Kemper. Center lives in her hometown of Houston with her husband, two kids and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

RICKEY FAYNE

Rickey Fayne, a writer of Southern literary fiction, is a first-time novelist from rural west Tennessee and has had his work appear in The New York Times, American Short Fiction, Guernica, The Sewanee Review and The Kenyon Review, among other magazines. He holds a master’s degree in English from Northwestern University and a master of fine arts degree in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His writing embodies his Black, Southern, churched upbringing in order to reimagine and honor his ancestors' experiences. He has received support for his writing from Tin House, Community of Writers, Kimbillio, Sewanee, Bread Loaf, Yaddo, Willapa Bay and MacDowell. Currently, he teaches fiction writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

ROBER GWALTNEY

Gwaltney, a graduate of Florida State University, was named the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel and was recipient of the 2022 Pat Conroy Writers Residency. He lives in Atlanta, where he is an active member of the Atlanta literary community serving as a board member for the Broadleaf Writers Association. By day, he works as vice president of Easter Seals North Georgia, a nonprofit supporting children with disabilities and other special needs. Gwaltney’s work has appeared in publications such as Southbound Magazine, Southern Literary Review, The Blue Mountain Review and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. His forthcoming novel, “Sing Down The Moon,” is scheduled to be published by Mercer University Press in the spring of 2026.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 16 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in that genre, including five Agatha Awards, five Anthony Awards and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also an on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with an unprecedented 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors for her journalism and true crime stories. She is on the board of International Thriller Writers, is a sought-after teacher and keynote speaker, and is host of three popular online events: The Back Room, Crime Time on the A Mighty Blaze podcast and First Chapter Fun. She lives in Boston with her husband, a criminal defense attorney. Her brand-new novel, “All This Could Be Yours,” is out now from Minotaur Books. People Magazine calls it “A nail-biting thriller,” and the Library Journal starred review describes it as “her best book to date” and “a love letter to booksellers and librarians amid the suspense and twists.”

LINDY RYAN

Lindy Ryan is an award-winning author, anthologist and short-film director whose books and anthologies have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Several of her projects have been adapted for screen. Ryan is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue. Declared a “champion for women’s voices in horror” by Shelf Awareness, Ryan was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree in 2020 and in 2022 was named one of horror's most masterful anthology curators. Born and raised in Southeast Texas, Ryan currently resides on the East Coast. She is a professor at Rutgers University. Her latest book, “Bless Your Heart,” has been described as “a crackling mystery-horror with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite.”

CHRISTINA RENFER VOGEL

Based in Chattanooga, Vogel is a still life painter an associate professor of painting and drawing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She holds a master’s degree in fine arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. She has been featured in solo exhibitions at Spalding Nix Fine Art in Atlanta and  the David Lusk Gallery in Nashville and included in the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. Vogel’s work has been curated into group exhibitions at the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, North Carolina, LABspace in Hillsdale, New York and THERE in New York City. She has participated in artist residencies including the Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and JSS in Civita in Italy. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, and she is a recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant and a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant, among other awards.

SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE

Grammy Award winner Marty Raybon is the lead singer of Shenandoah, and Linda Davis, who has three Grammys, is perhaps best known for her No. 1 “Does He Love You?” duet with Reba McEntire. They’re performing with Mitch Rossell, who opened for Garth Brooks on his 2022 stadium tour and placed third in season 18 of “America’s Got Talent” in 2023. Raybon was the founding lead singer of the country music band Shenandoah from Muscle Shoals. The band was known for No. 1 hits such as “Two Dozen Roses,” “Church on Cumberland Road” and “Next to You, Next to Me” and the Grammy-winning “Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart” duet with Alison Kraus. The band split up in 1997 after Raybon left, but it was reformed in 2000, and Raybon returned to the band in 2014. Davis is a member of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and mother of Lady A frontwoman Hillary Scott. She, her husband and two daughters put out the two-time Grammy-winning album “Hillary Scott & The Scott Family — Love Remains,” which topped the Billboard top Christian albums chart and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard top country albums chart. Rossell, a prolific songwriter, caught the attention of Garth Brooks and wrote four songs for Brooks and opened for the star with an acoustic guitar on Brooks’ 2022 stadium tour. Brooks also introduced Rossell when Rossell debuted at the Grand Ole Opry.