The cliché is that a picture paints a thousand words, but rich words can paint thousands of pictures.
On Friday, two decorated storytellers sat down for an exchange of witty banter at Augusta University’s Maxwell Theatre, and they let an audience of about 350 listen in on their conversation. Their words painted pictures of life experienced.
Author Rick Bragg, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at “The New York Times” and has penned two bestselling memoirs, “All Over But the Shoutin’” and “Ava’s Man” shared with Brian Panowich, award-winning author of “Bull Mountain” and “Like Lions” bits about the stories some of his books as well as meeting acclaimed writer Harper Lee and the legendary Dolly Parton.
The conversation was peppered with humor and a few good-natured digs.
Panowich picked up Bragg from his northern Alabama home prior to Friday’s appearance, and Bragg’s 88-year-old mother eyed Panowich suspiciously.
“Is he a professional?” she asked her son.
Often, black limos pull up on their tree-laden property with professional, uniformed drivers to take Bragg to speaking engagements.
“People who hire you to talk want you to get there,” he quipped.
Bragg assured her that Panowich was fine for the job, and despite the “monsoon” they drove through to get to AU, they made it safely.
But the heart of the evening reflected on his writing and the people who inspired his books.
He grew up with a hard-working single mother and a loving grandmother. Family members weren’t perfect, but they shaped his life and the stories in his books. While they were poor and known to tell a lie or two, he didn’t hold it against them. They had a dignity and strength that other Southern authors often denied them.
He didn’t plan to meet Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” after being named the 2009 recipient of the Harper Lee Award as Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year. While appreciative of her work, he did have one bone to pick with her writing and that was the fact that she portrayed poor people as the villains.
Poor people “don’t control anything” unlike people with financial means who are in positions of power and influence, he said.
William Faulkner did it too, he added.
He did meet with her though after being told “she loved your books,” and “there may not be much time left.”
During their meeting, Lee wanted to see the actual award statue because she’d never seen one. Bragg stowed it away inhis trunk. He fetched the weighty object and when he handed it to her realized Lee’s frailty.
“I caught it. I didn’t want to be known for the rest of my life as the man who killed Harper Lee,” he said.
And as for Dolly Parton, Bragg called meeting her a surreal experience.
“Dolly is so sweet and genuine, and she thinks every kid in America should have their own book,” he said.
He interviewed her for “Southern Living” magazine, and everything was picture perfect. Like many in America, “I’ve been in love with Dolly since forever,” he said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards and received the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
