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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Mary Kubica
Author Mary Kubica talks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Chris Bohjalian
Author Chris Bohjalian speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Karen White
Author Karen White speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Kristy Woodson Harvey
Author Kristy Woodson Harvey speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices White Harvey
Authors Karen White, at left, and Kristy Woodson Harvey speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Rabia Chaudry
Author Rabia Chaudry speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Julie Cantrell
Author Julie Cantrell speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Michael Farris Smith
Author Michael Farris Smith speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Cantrell Smith
Authors Julie Cantrell and Michael Farris Smith speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices C.J. Box
Author C.J. Box speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southernn Voices Chris Bohjalian 2
Author Chris Bohjalian speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices C.J. Box 2
Author C.J. Box speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Chris Bohjalian 3
Author Chris Bohjalian speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Kubica autograph
Author Mary Kubica, at right, chats with a guest as she signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Berney autograph
Author Lou Berney signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices White autograph
Author Karen White, at left, signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Harvey autograph
Author Kristy Woodson Harvey, at left, signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Cantrell autograph
Author Julie Cantrell, at right, signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Box autograph
Author C.J. Box, at left, signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Bohjalian autograph
Author Chris Bohjalian signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices 2017 books 1
Attendees at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, check out books for sale at the authors conference on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices 2017 books 2
Numerous copies of author C.J. Box's books were available for sale at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices 2017 Amanda Borden
Hoover Public Library Director Amanda Borden welcomes guests to the authors conference at 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
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Author Chris Bohjalian speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Cantrell Smith 2
Authors Julie Cantrell and Michael Farris Smith speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Michael Farris Smith 2
Author Michael Farris Smith speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Julie Cantrell 2
Author Julie Cantrell speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices 2017 books 3
Rabia Chaudry's book, "Adnan's Story," sits ready for purchase at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices 2017 books 4
Mary Kubica's book, "Don't You Cry," sits ready for purchase at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Box 2
Author C.J. Box speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices 2017 stage Cantrell Smith
Authors Julie Cantrell and Michael Farris Smith speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
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Authors Mary Kubica and Lou Berney speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices C.J. Box 4
Author C.J. Box speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Harvey White
Authors Kristy Woodson Harvey, at left, and Karen White speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Harvey 2
Author Kristy Woodson Harvey speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Karen White 3
Author Karen White speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Rabia Chaudry 2
Author Rabia Chaudry speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
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Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Chaudry autograph
Author Rabia Chaudry signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
Growing up, Mary Kubica always enjoyed writing in her journal, but she rarely let anyone read anything she wrote.
“It was something that was really very personal to me … The idea of putting my work out there for other people to read absolutely terrified me,” Kubica told attendees at the Southern Voices Festival authors conference at the Hoover Public Library Saturday.
But when she had children and became a stay-at-home mom, she tried writing a novel, and something inside her clicked, she said. She found herself thinking about the characters she created all the time.
“I was dreaming about them,” Kubica said. “I just couldn’t let it go.”
She didn’t tell anybody she was writing a book except her husband, and she wouldn’t let him read it, she said. With young children, it took her five years to write the book. She sent off manuscripts for people to read, and rejection letters started pouring in. “It was a bit demoralizing,” she said.
Two more years passed, and finally an agent’s assistant who had liked her book but couldn’t convince the agent to move forward with it got promoted and called her, ready to give it a try. They spent a couple of months cleaning it up to send to a publisher, and Kubica had a publishing contract by the end of that year.
The book, “The Good Girl,” earned spots on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists and received a Strand Critics nomination for best first novel and Goodreads Choice Award nomination for mysteries and thrillers in 2014. Now, she’s working on her fourth book as an established writer.
Kubica’s story was one of many shared with the roughly 350 people who came to the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival.
Nine award-winning authors from a variety of backgrounds and genres talked about how they got started in the business, their successes and failures, writing habits and what drives them to do what they do.
They came all from all over the country, but many had Southern ties. Each spoke in two venues — the sold-out 250-seat Library Theatre and the Library Plaza, where about 100 seats were nearly full.
All but one of the authors were fiction writers.
Chris Bohjalian
They included Chris Bohjalian, a Vermont resident who has had 19 books published, most of them New York Times bestsellers. Three of his books have been made into movies, and four more are in development for films, including his latest, “Sleepwalker,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Chris Bohjalian 4
Author Chris Bohjalian speaks at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
Bohjalian’s novels explore a wide variety of topics, including human trafficking, domestic violence, animal rights, transsexual surgery and the Armenian genocide. But he said they all have two common threads: stories about seriously messed-up young women and a sense of dread that keeps you turning the pages.
His next book, “The Flight Attendant,” is due out in January 2018 and tells the story of a flight attendant who shacks up in a hotel room with an alcoholic after flying overseas, only to wake up with him dead and covered in blood.
Karen White, an Atlanta resident who has authored 23 novels, said she, too, likes to write about women who are flawed. All of her books start with a woman who puts herself in a deep hole and doesn’t know how she will find a way out, she said. She also likes to write about the bonds between women, particularly sisters, mothers and daughters, she said.
White said she likes to weave history into her stories and loves to write about the South Carolina low country, though she has never lived there.
Author Kristy Woodson Harvey of North Carolina said one of the most interesting things about writing to her is figuring out the characters and what they have to teach her. “I think we’re always discovering things about ourselves through our characters,” she said.
Western point of view
Another prolific writer at Southern Voices was C.J. Box, who lives in Wyoming. He has written 22 books, 17 of which have been a series about a Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett. Over 10 million copies of his books have been sold in the United States, and his books also have been translated into 27 languages and optioned for film and TV.
Box said he was an avid reader growing up and spent a lot of time in the library as a child. He always dreamed about writing a book and seeing it on the library shelves or in the hands of someone on an airplane. “Both of those things have occurred,” he said.
He started out as a journalist, writing on the side. It took him 20 years to write his first book, he said. He finished it in 1995 but didn’t get it published until 2001. He didn’t tell his daughters he was writing a book until he got a contract on it because he didn’t want them to view him as a failed novelist, he said. He has since won numerous literary awards and has been writing full-time for eight years. He has two more books coming out this year.
While his books have western themes, they’re more than just a retelling of classic western tales, he said. Box said he always likes to start his writing process by coming up with an issue or controversy, then build an outline around the topic. Some of his subject matter has included energy awareness, endangered species, wildlife management and environmental issues, but he always tries not to have an agenda and share enough about various viewpoints so that advocates on either side of an issue feel they are adequately represented in the books, he said.
Nonfiction writing
The only nonfiction writer who was a guest author at the Saturday conference was Rabia Chaudry, an attorney who researches the intersection of religion and violent extremism at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Photo courtesy of Lance Shores/Hoover Public Library
Southern Voices Chaudry autograph
Author Rabia Chaudry signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
Chaudry said she felt a little out of place with the other authors because she has written only one book, “Adnan’s Story,” which is about a 17-year-old boy who was convicted of strangling to death his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend in a Baltimore suburb in 1999. The boy, Adnan Sayed, has maintained his innocence but has remained in jail for 18 years while many people have been fighting to get his conviction overturned.
The effort was the subject of a hugely popular podcast called “Serial” that got international attention, but Chaudry (whose younger brother was Sayed’s best friend) and others believed Sayed’s story was not fully told, so she created another podcast called “Undisclosed” and wrote a book about the case.
After 17 years, while she was writing the book, Sayed’s conviction was overturned and he was granted a new trial, but the state appealed that decision, which could mean another 18 months to two years to get a trial, Chaudry said.
Chaudry has received praise for her book, but she said that’s little consolation when Sayed, now 35 years old, remains in a supermax prison with a father who is in his 80s.
“My fear is that he will never see his son home,” she said.
Southern Baptist roots
Authors Julie Cantrell and Michael Farris Smith, both from Mississippi, both talked about how growing up in a Southern Baptist church shaped their writing. Smith was a preacher’s kid, and Cantrell was entrenched in church life as a child.
Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Cantrell Smith
Authors Julie Cantrell and Michael Farris Smith speak at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
Smith said the Bible is full of powerful stories, wonderful imagery and interesting characters such as Samson, Moses and Daniel. The stories are full of temptation, failure and redemption — stories full of “emotional scratching and dragging.”
Cantrell said even people who are not Christians can appreciate that Jesus was someone who told stories that shaped people’s souls. That’s the same goal of writers, she said.
Finding a place to write
Numerous authors on Saturday shared their work habits and favorite writing spaces.
Kubica said when her children were young, she would write in any quiet corner she could find. Now, she has an office that lets her get away from distractions and write in a big, comfortable chair.
White said she has an office, too, but typically uses it more for non-writing work such as publicity. It’s not good for creativity, she said. Nature really inspires her, so sometimes she likes to go to a beach house on the Florida panhandle and sit outside and listen to the waves as she writes. She also likes to have her dogs next to her when she writes, she said.
Lou Berney, who is from Oklahoma City, said he frequently has to leave the house to write. Sometimes, he’ll go to a coffee shop. “It’s really noisy and crowded,” he said. “Somehow that helps me focus. I can really disappear into my work because of all the commotion around me.”
Photo by Jon Anderson
Southern Voices Berney autograph
Author Lou Berney signs autographs at the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival at the Hoover Public Library on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017.
Several of the authors said they set aside several hours in the early morning to write while their mind is still fresh or other family members are asleep.
While Box starts his books with an outline, several others said they do not.
“I never know the ending of a book when I start,” Kubica said. “I love writing that way — just not knowing what’s going to happen. I just love that natural unfolding.”
Dealing with rejection
Almost every author talked about facing rejection from agents and publishers. Bohjalian said he got 250 rejection slips before he sold a single word. Smith said he found it very depressing that many times the problem was more about the marketing than a problem with the writing. He gave up “about 1,400 times,” he said.
Cantrell said the writers who never really give up are the ones who will get a shot. “Eventually, somebody’s going to take a chance on you,” she said. “It’s all about resilience and believing in yourself.”
Shannon Little of Inverness came to the authors conference with her parents and daughter. This is her third conference to attend, and she loves the variety, she said.
“They’re all different genres, and it’s great to get their perspectives on different things and their books and how they began their careers and all the rejections they went through,” Little said.
She was particularly intrigued by Chaudry’s talk. “It was an eye-opener about our justice system and how many wrongful convictions there are,” she said.
She was inspired to look for ways she can help bring about reform and provide assistance for people wrongly imprisoned, she said.
Bruce Peters, a minister from Hoover, said he was struck by the ordinary humanity of the authors. They’ve done extraordinary work, but they are really just ordinary people that he might run into at Starbucks or Publix, he said.
It helps give him faith that he, in his ordinary state, has something to contribute, too, Peters said.
He lost an 8-year-old son and later his wife and has been through a lot of grief, he said. “I want to redirect my losses by telling people how to recover,” Peters said. “I learn more at a funeral than at a party.”
Saturday’s authors conference was the final of five days' worth of activities for the Southern Voices Festival. The festival began Tuesday with a reception for artists Darius and Bethanne Hill of Birmingham and also included concerts by the mountain music group Zoe Speaks on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and a talk and theatrical performance by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Wells Friday night.
See more photos from the 25th annual Southern Voices Festival on the Hoover Public Library website.
