Friends of the Library to host Rick Bragg

The Friends of the Homewood Library are hosting an evening with Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, on Sept. 20 at Rosewood Hall. Refreshments will be served at the event, which begins at 6:30 p.m, and a book signing will follow.

Born in Piedmont, Ala., in 1959, Bragg is the author of two best-selling memoirs, All Over But the Shoutin’ and Ava’s Man, as well as The Prince of Frogtown, and writes a monthly column for Southern Living.

He was a correspondent for The New York Times and other papers,  covering  murders and unrest in Haiti, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more.

Bragg attended Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow from 1992 to 1993 and is the recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award and 31 other national, regional and state writing awards.

Bragg has told stories and taught writing at Harvard University, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Boston University, and the University of South Florida. He now works as a writing professor at The University of Alabama.

In conjunction with the Friends event, the library’s Better Than Therapy Book Club will read  Ava’s Man, which tells the story of Bragg’s grandfather, and discuss it Sept. 25 at 2 p.m.

Advance tickets ($25) are required. To purchase tickets, call 332-6625 or stop by the library’s Adult Services Department. All proceeds go to the Friends of the Homewood  Library, a nonprofit organization benefiting the Homewood Public Library.

Bragg’s books will be available for purchase at the event.