"I didn't want short stories; I wanted to write a novel," said award-winning novelist Ann Patchett, the keynote speaker for this year's Southern Literary Festival. Speaking to the crowded Student Union...

She’s been dubbed everything from the love child of Flannery O’Connor and the ghost of Hank Williams, to the only non-country Country singer. A wearer of many hats, entertainer-writer Minton Sparks...