Heritage Sandy Springs Releases Titles @ Twilight Lineup

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- After a brief hiatus in July, Heritage Sandy Springs is bringing back its Titles @ Twilight series for book and history lovers to devour with other like-minded individuals.

This educational program for adults will be held on the first Tuesday of each month from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The series promotes local authors whose stories of the South represent a variety of topics, from Civil War battles and murder mysteries to memories of 1960's Atlanta. Titles @ Twilight is free to attend and takes place in the Garden Room at the Williams-Payne House at 6075 Sandy Springs Circle in Sandy Springs.

The schedule for the rest of the year is as follows:

Aug. 1: “All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign” – Stephen Davis

Davis, a longtime Atlantan, served as Book Review Editor for Blue & Gray magazine for more than twenty years, and is the author of more than a hundred articles on the Civil War in both scholarly and popular journals. His new book, All the Fighting They Want describes General John Bell Hood, as once one of the ablest division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia, who he found himself, by the spring of 1864, in the war's Western Theater. Recently recovered from grievous wounds sustained at Chickamauga, he suddenly found himself thrust into command of the Confederacy's ill-starred army even as Federals pounded on the door of the Deep South's greatest untouched city, Atlanta.

Sept. 5: “Jaybird’s Song” – Kathy Wilson Florence

From 1999 to 2014, Florence’s weekly column “Over the Picket Fence” appeared in the Dunwoody Crier. Now, she is debuting her first novel, Jaybird’s Song, set in the turbulent South as Jim Crow laws come to an end. Josie Flint’s idyllic childhood in 1960s Atlanta is defined by her role as the oldest of the three Flint sisters and crowned with the presence of her grandmother, Annie Jo - the maypole that centers the Flint family. As Josie’s school desegregates and the country meanders through new ideas brought about by the Civil Rights movement, a personal tragedy breaches Josie’s world and shatters that perfect childhood.

Oct. 3: “The Sweetness and the Pits” – Lynne Byrd

A true Atlanta native with ancestors who traveled across the Atlantic on a ship with Georgia’s founder James Oglethorpe, Byrd is as southern as they come. Her memoirs chronicle her life through childhood, careers, and relationships with family, friends and community. “Being a Georgia Peach is an honor and privilege, but beyond birthright, it’s a state of mind and an attitude. Oh, there’s the peachy stuff for sure, but just inside the sweetest fruit is the pit, something to gnaw around and toss back to the red clay. Both the sweetness and the pits are just a part of life.”

Nov. 7: “The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday” and “Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch” – Kathy Penn

Born in New York City and transplanted to the South in high school, Kathy Manos Penn taught high school English in Dunwoody. Her love of writing led to writing columns for the Dunwoody Crier, and The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday is a collection of her favorite articles. In 2017 Penn released a new book, Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch. What a difference a doggie DNA test makes. When humble family dog, Banjo, discovers he’s descended from royalty, he sets about writing a book on his royal life. Join his lordship and the Royal Mum to hear more.

Dec. 5: “Aftermath” – George Weinstein

Weinstein is the former President of the Atlanta Writers Club. Since 2008, he has directed their twice-yearly Atlanta Writers Conference, bringing in acquisition editors and literary agents to help members understand the business of writing and achieve their dreams of publication. In his new book,Aftermath, Weinstein writes about fictional character Janet Wright, who left tiny Graylee, Georgia at five when her mother fled a destructive marriage. Now forty and reinventing herself after a failed engagement, Janet returns as the sole inheritor of her recently murdered father’s valuable estate. Life should be easy, but she can’t resist pulling at the threads of the apparently open-and-shut case. Before long, she finds herself tangled in Graylee’s web of secrets, lies, and scandals - and in fear of her own life.

For more information about Titles @ Twilight, contact Director of Historic Resources and Education Programs Melissa Swindell at mswindell@heritagesandysprings.org or 404-851-9111 ext. 2.

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