Writer Hans Koning–author of thirteen novels, ten non-fiction books, three plays, two translations, and a children‚Äôs book–died on April 13 at home in Easton, Connecticut. Born in Amsterdam, he came to the United States in 1951, and published his first novel, The Affair, in 1958.

In 2001, we published his thirteenth novel, Zeeland or Elective Concurrences. Shortly thereafter, we began the Hans Koning reprint series with the idea of bringing all of Koning’s works back into print. Beginning in 2002, NewSouth released Koning’s The Affair, An American Romance, The Petersburg-Cannes Express, A Walk with Love and Death, and I Know What I’m Doing; the latest, The Kleber Flight, originally published in 1981, was released by NewSouth in fall 2006.

Koning was among the first authors signed by NewSouth Books. A lively and lasting friendship developed based on mutual respect for the causes we cared about and our commitment to taking chances in the twin worlds of politics and publishing. To our way of thinking, Koning was quintessentially engage. He eschewed mere dinner-table rhetoric about the issues of the day in favor of personal activism that included his resistance work in WWII, anti-Vietnam War activities, and the hosting of a radio program called “Literary Discord.” His convictions about human rights animated his life and his stories, often obscuring the elegance of his pen and the luminous prose moments he delivered in which our human and sexual connectedness are described. His perspective on the place where politics and history and personal choice intersect was unique and affecting. Curious, articulate, and writing to the end, NewSouth is profoundly honored to represent him.

Hans Koning is remembered in The New York Times, the International Herald, and the Hartford Courant, as well as by his family at his website, www.hanskoning.net.

Former Alabama Governor John Patterson is subject of a forthcoming biography by historian Warren Trest (Wings of Denial), called Nobody But the People, to be published by NewSouth Books in 2008. Patterson is also the subject of a new documentary, called In the Wake of the Assassins. The film by Robert Clem will be shown in Montgomery on May 21 at 4pm at Alabama Department of Archives and History; a reception follows. For more information, call the Friends of the Alabama Archives at 334-242-4363.

Columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson, author of the upcoming Poor Man’s Provence from NewSouth Books, spoke this past Thursday at the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s monthly Architreats program. Darryn Simmons of the Montgomery Advertiser wrote, “Johnson answered questions from die-hard fans in the audience that religiously read her weekly column, which appears Mondays in the Montgomery Advertiser. She also kept the crowd laughing as she told stories about her career.” From the article:

Johnson is currently working on a book about the Cajun culture in Louisiana, [Poor Man's Provence].

“It’s the most different place you can go without a passport,” she said.

Johnson said she found a number of similarities between the French-influenced culture there and the rest of the South, including a common obsession with art and food.

“Where else do you spend hours on preparing a meal besides Paris and Montgomery?” she said.

See the full article at the Montgomery Advertiser website.

Poor Man’s Provence will be available in Spring 2007 from NewSouth Books. For more information, call NewSouth directly at (866) 639-7688.

NewSouth author Wade Hall has made a generous donation to The University of Alabama’s W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library. The gift, which includes books, sheet music, sound recordings and photographs, now comprises the Wade Hall Collection of Southern History and Culture.

Publisher‚Äôs Bindings Online, a digital archive project which collects decorative book bindings from 1815-1930, has selected over 1,000 titles from the Wade Hall Collection for the project, including many signed first-edition books by Southern authors. “I am delighted with the many dimensions being discovered in my collections by the faculty of the library,” said Dr. Hall, “as well as the students, scholars and historians who are using my donations to the University of Alabama.”

To learn more about Publisher’s Bindings Online and Dr. Hall, visit the PBO Website. Wade Hall’s NewSouth publications are available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.

Dr. Ibrahim “Abe” Fawal, author of the stunning Palestinian novel On the Hills of God, will be interviewed tomorrow, Feb. 1, 2007, at 6:30 pm on the Birmingham, Alabama, radio program Tapestry on WBHM. Fawal will also give a lecture on “The Origins of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 7:00 pm at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Education, Room 230. Dr. Fawal, who was born in Ramallah, will speak about Palestine and its history, using his novel as a jumping off point for discussion.

Booklist called the PEN Oakland Award-winning On the Hills of God a “novel that appeals to our common humanity.” Richard North Patterson said that this “passionate and deeply human narrative should capture anyone interested in the origins of the Middle East conflict.” And in the foreword to a new edition of the book, Oxford University scholar Robin Ostle comments that the book “deserves the widest possible distribution.”

To learn more about the Tapestry radio program, or for post-interview excerpts, visit the Tapestry website. On the Hills of God is available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.

NewSouth Managing Editor Brian Seidman‘s short story “So a Horse Walks into a Bar …” has been selected for inclusion in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fiction anthology, published by Pocket Books.¬† The 400-page anthology will be available in summer 2007.

Brian Seidman joined NewSouth Books in 2004.  His responsibilities include editorial, design, and production of many of the house’s titles; scheduling and coordinating manufacturing; overseeing shipping and fulfillment;  and facilitating acquisitions.  He has also presented on writing and editing at the Hariette Austin Writers Conference and the Tennessee Mountain Writers Conference, among others.

NewSouth congratulates Brian on this publication.  Strange New Worlds Volume 10 is available for pre-order from Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.

NewSouth is proud to announce the release of Victory After the Fall: Memories of a Civil Rights Activist by Rev. H. K. Matthews, with J. Michael Butler. Matthews is one of the unsung heroes of the Southern civil rights movement, having participated in the first sit-in demonstrations in northwest Florida, and having led a campaign against the use of Confederate symbols at an area high school. And in the course of his activism, Matthews served time in state prison for a crime that never occurred.

However, Victory After the Fall is much more than one man’s account of his life experiences. It is a first-person narrative of the challenges and opportunities black citizens encountered before, during, and after the 1960s struggle for racial equality. Victory After the Fall provides a fascinating journey into the civil rights battlegrounds of northwest Florida and beyond, but it is also a story of moral courage and personal redemption.

Victory After the Fall is available directly from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer. Victory After the Fall is also available as an Adobe Reader ebook.

Rev. Robert Graetz, author of A White Preacher’s Message on Race and Reconciliation from NewSouth Books, will speak on January 18, 2007, at noon, at the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s monthly ArchiTreats program. Rev. Graetz will discuss both his book, and his experiences during and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

White Preacher’s Message details Rev. Graetz’s life as the young white pastor of a black Lutheran Church in Montgomery, where he and his wife were among the few whites who supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Though his church and home were bombed and his life was threatened, Rev. Graetz never wavered, and his memoir discusses both the boycott, white privilege, black forgiveness, and the present-day challenges for human and civil rights, including gay rights.

To learn more, visit the ADAH ArchiTreats website.

A White Preacher’s Message is available from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.

Noted children’s book reviewer Daniel Pinkwater called NewSouth’s Shlemiel Crooks ‚Äúa hilarious book‚Äù during NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday on December 16, 2006. In a conversation with NPR’s Scott Simon, Pinkwater included Shlemiel Crooks as one of only seven of his recommended 2006 holiday books. Listen to the full segment at NPR.org.

Based on a true story, Shlemiel Crooks is an imaginative introduction for young children to the history of Passover, as Pharaoh and a town of Jewish immigrants play tug-of-war with wine made from grapes left over from the exodus from Egypt. In its Yiddish-inflected English, punctuated by amusing curses, young readers hear the language of a Jewish community of another time, while delighting to brilliant illustrations on every page, making this a perfect present for both Passover and Hanukkah. No other children’s book has Pharaoh’s ghost coming back to “pull one over on the Jews,” nosy neighbors making a “shtuss” outside, and a talking horse that sounds like it has a “little indigestion!”

Shlemiel Crooks is a 2006 Sydney Taylor Honor Book and a 2006 Koret International Jewish Book Award Finalist. To order the book, visit www.newsouthbooks.com/shlemielcrooks, Amazon.com, or your favorite local or online book retailer.

NewSouth Books is pleased to announce our 2006 holiday book sale, offering a 30% discount on all our titles. Through the end of December, prices for all the titles listed on the NewSouth website have been discounted by 30%. No need for special coupons–the discounts are automatic!

For more information, visit our NewSouth Books Holiday Sale page. And for more discounts, see our full line of titles in our searchable book database.

The NewSouth Books 2006 Holiday Book Sale — it’s a great time to learn more about NewSouth Books.