September 2023
Features
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Here’s what makes the books at For Keeps special
Rare and classic books keep finding Rosa Duffy. Some have fragile, first edition spines that creek like arthritic joints. Others have musings jotted in the margins by previous owners. These are Duffy’s favorites—the ones that she hand-selects from online sellers, collectors, or other independent bookstores to live in her Auburn Avenue reading room and store, For Keeps Books.
On the centennial of Jean Toomer’s Cane—and rural Georgia’s turn as the literary backdrop for a renaissance
One of my favorite lines in Jean Toomer’s masterwork Cane is “the pines whisper to Jesus.” I take it to mean what we cannot say out loud, we whisper to the trees, who then pass the message on to God. The truths, desires, and needs that are too painful—or powerful—to say out loud must be whispered to remain intact. Cane is a book of multiple whispers, sighs, and quiets about the early-20th-century South.
How Atlanta’s romance writers are finding new, younger audiences
At its core, the romance novel satisfies a fundamental human desire to experience love. In a world that often feels less and less safe, the assurance of an “HEA” (happily ever after) or “HFN” (happy for now) that a romance novel provides is comforting.
In 1988, some of the most important Black women in American literature posed for a photo at Spelman. Here’s how it came about.
In 1988, a group of writers gathered on the steps of Spelman College’s Rockefeller Fine Arts building to fete Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, who, that weekend, had become the college’s first Black woman president. We had just gotten out of a wonderful program honoring Dr. Cole and Black women in the arts. People were talking, laughing, and greeting each other . . . Everybody was high off the charge of the whole gathering: This was the culmination of a decades-long discussion of who should lead this historically Black institution, and this was a celebration of the leadership of Black women in many different fields, particularly in scholarship, in literature, and in the arts.
Whether on stage, at a library, or at a bookstore, these Atlantans know the power of narratives
How several Atlantans build community through storytelling and literature, including YATL’s Kimberly Jones and Vania Stoyanova, A Cappella’s Frank Reiss, Charis’s E.R. Anderson, and more.
A book lover’s guide to Atlanta
A roundup of independent bookstores, essential books that explain today’s Atlanta, and book events.
Tayari Jones on her literary lineage and choosing Atlanta
Tayari Jones—author, professor, and griot of the American South—has a lot on her plate. She teaches a creative writing class at Emory University, she has book blurbs due and forewords to file, and she has words in a just-released craft book, How We Do It, where her Emory colleague Jericho Brown gathered Black writers to explain “how they go about making what they make.” “I know I have a novel,” Jones writes, “when I have a question to which I don’t know the moral/ethical answer.” She is also putting the finishing touches on her fifth and forthcoming novel, Old Fourth Ward, which is set squarely in Black Atlanta’s centers of gravity: the historic neighborhood adjacent to downtown Atlanta (and the book’s namesake) and Cascade Heights (her old stomping grounds).
Notes from Underground Atlanta’s DIY arts scene
Atlanta’s long-neglected subterranean corridor is having yet another renaissance, this time as a DIY arts destination. But as redevelopment looms, the creative community wonders: how long can it last?
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The Connector
ArtsATL’s picks for must-see events this fall
We teamed up with ArtsATL to create a must-do arts calendar for this fall.
WABE host Rose Scott sounds a lot like Atlanta
If there’s an Atlantan with something interesting to say, there’s a good chance they’ve said it to Rose Scott. Her radio program, Closer Look, which airs live every weekday afternoon on local NPR member station WABE, hosts a vibrant cross-section of the city’s movers and shakers, interviewed by Scott herself. “I always say we’re a curator of conversations,” she told me. “Community conversations.”
In Johns Creek, a refuge for injured wildlife
This spring, 10 baby possums arrived by cardboard box to a newly opened wildlife rescue center in Johns Creek. The now nine-week-old joeys had been in their mother’s marsupium when she was killed by a car. Here, state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator Jess Legato gives one of them water with a syringe.
How an Atlanta entrepreneur created the Gas Valet app
If you’ve driven past the Shell station at Powers Ferry and Roswell roads lately, you may have noticed attendants in neon green polos. But these assistants signal more than just a return to the full-service pumps of yesteryear.
The Bite
The verdict on 3 new Atlanta restaurants: Leftie Lee’s, Southern National, and Planta
Internationally influenced sandwiches in Avondale Estates, soulful Southern in Summerhill, and chic vegan at Krog Street Market.
Review: The new Holeman & Finch has less offal, but is still pretty good
Fifteen years ago, a somewhat hidden South Buckhead gastropub became a local and national sensation, based on an approach to food and drink that made it one of the coolest culinary kids in town. But yesterday’s Holeman & Finch is not today’s Holeman & Finch.
Atlanta chefs are changing the perception of Mexican cuisine
In 2022, when he and his business partners opened the Mexican restaurant El Valle in Midtown, Luis Damian was clear on what he didn’t want for the space: “I didn’t want to open another tequila bar with a theme of sombreros, skeletons, and mariachi that Americans think of when they picture Mexico.”
The Goods
Saturated color and meaningful art add soul to this Grove Park abode
When interior designer Amber Guyton first visited Shanelle Walker’s Grove Park home, she noticed lots of art propped up against the walls—but that didn’t surprise her. “My client, Shanelle, is a woman of many talents,” says Guyton. Walker is a freelancer in Atlanta’s booming TV/movie industry and owner of the local apparel line Freedom Company, a brand “rooted in Black Empowerment and Love.” She’s also a writer, an activist, and a podcaster. Guyton says, “Her home is the core of all this creativity. She wanted it to be a place where ‘Dreams Don’t Sleep.’”
Kinokuniya, metro Atlanta’s new Japanese bookstore, is a delightful place to shop for unique gifts
A new Japanese bookstore in Johns Creek is much more than a haven for anime and manga fans—it’s a perfect gift shop for artists, animal lovers, and writers. Here are a few of our favorite finds.
A love letter to Chamblee’s Maomi Bookstore
About seven years ago, Yvonne Hou learned the previous bookstore in the same spot was about to close. Rather than let that happen, she decided to take it over and make it her own. But what to call her new business? She posed this question to one of her (many) cats, who replied, “Mi-o!” And so it was settled. Hou named the shop Maomi, the Mandarin equivalent of kitty. With an origin story like that, of course this place would draw me in.
Room Envy: A colorful Decatur kitchen that blends midcentury style with cottage elements
For this Decatur house, interior designer Laura Jenkins cleverly blended midcentury style with cottage elements.
