Thursday, June 13, 2013

Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly's "Titled World"

According to The Clarksdale Press Register, "Tom Franklin and his poet wife, Beth Ann Fennelly, co-wrote the novel 'Titled World' set in the April 1927 MS Delta flood. He read a portion of it here last week."

Franklin said, "The tension of rising waters in the book provides an effective metaphor for rising human tensions."

CPR, "The size of the flood was the costliest disaster to ever hit the United States. It guaranteed widespread misery and hardship and those things provided the well-spring of concern. With so many people drowned and others displaced, there is no end to the possibility of stories. It inspired dozens of blues songs, William Alexander Perry's classic memoir 'Lanterns on the Levee',  and the novel 'Southern Cross the Dog' by Chinese-American Bill Cheng."

Clarksdale hosts at least one author a month promoting their new work. We are fortunate to have a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation with support from the Delta Bridge Project, the Friends of the Library and KCP & L, and partnership with the Coahoma County Higher Education Center. Hors d'oeurves by Alexander Pretti & Co.

The MS River is six miles from us and held back by the Levee. Locals pay attention to the Helena, AR MS river stage. Excessive rains in Ohio and Illinois and up the Missouri keep us on our toes. The questions on everyone's mind is: Will it flood behind the Levee and how high? Do residents need to evacuate?

In 2011 the Hamburg, IA Missouri River Levee breech sliced off the Levee like meatloaf. The Missouri flows into the MS near St Louis. The Mighty MS is a force with a mind of its own. It bears watching.

2013 Red Convertible Travel Series


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