By Popular Demand: A Personal Statement

In the last few months, several people have asked why I write this column and why I wrote the book, A Guide to Literary Sites of the South. So, this week I will venture off into a little personal musing.

Those of you who have read A Guide to Literary Sites of the South know that this web site is an extension of the book. It covers some of the same landmarks, often giving up-dated tourist information and expanding on the personality profiles. This site also goes beyond the book in providing tourist information for authors' homes and literary landmarks in other parts of the US and even in other countries.

About five years ago, I sat a table with friends who had been on vacation to the New England states. They had toured many literary landmarks while there including Waldon Pond and Emily Dickinson's house. Our conversation led us to speculate about what literary landmarks were available for tour in the southern United States.

I went on a search for guidebooks or information about author's homes, museums, burial sites, . . . any landmarks related to authors who had lived in the South. I found several magazine articles focusing on two or three author's houses that were regularly open for public tour. I found a few more newspaper articles that focused on the same few homes. But I did not find any book devoted to tourist information about literary landmarks in the South.

In my preliminary research, I did discover that the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum was not too far away from where I live and is open on weekends for public tour. So, one Saturday afternoon my husband and I took our first literary tour.

I came away from the tour, knowing that touring an author's home is fun and educational. It gives us some inside stories about the author's lifestyle, background, family, and associates. This kind of information can lead to a better understanding of the authors' writing.

My first literary tour gave way to others, and I soon discovered that the more I toured, read, and researched, the more I wanted to learn about authors.

Armed with a little information, I returned to my friends--who, yes, are the publishers at Vision Press. We discussed the possibility of producing a book that would to the best of our ability provide tourists with a comprehensive guide to authors' homes and other literary landmarks in thirteen southern states.

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