SBF presents John Connolly and James Lee Burke in conversation on Saturday, November 21st at 1pm.

John Connolly, an international bestseller, is the winner of a number of literary prizes for his work, including the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony awards, and a CWA Dagger.  He is the author of the Charlie Parker series of thrillers, the supernatural collection Nocturnes, the Samuel Johnson Trilogy for younger readers, and (with Jennifer Ridyard) the Chronicles of the Invaders series.  Born in Dublin in 1968, he worked as a bartender, local government official and journalist before publishing his first novel, Every Dead Thing, in 1999.  His latest book is The Dirty South, coming out on November 3, 2020.

James Lee Burke was born in Houston in 1936 and grew up on the Gulf Coast. He attended Southwestern Louisiana Institute for two years and graduated with honors from the University of Missouri. He earned his master’s degree in English there after a year at the University of Madrid. In graduate school, Burke met his wife Pearl Pai.

He finished his first novel, Half of Paradise, when he was 23. Upon publication, the novel was given a six-column review in The New York Times by Wirt Williams, author of Ada Dallas, comparing Burke’s novel to the work of Faulkner and Sartre.

Burke published two more novels, then submitted the manuscript titled The Lost Get-Back Boogie. It stayed under submission for over nine years and was rejected more than 111 times. This kept Burke out of hardback print for thirteen years. During that time, he met his current agent, Philip Spitzer, who was driving a cab in Hell’s Kitchen at night and running a one-man agency during the day. When The Lost Get-Back Boogie was finally published by Louisiana State University Press, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Burke has been a Breadloaf Fellow and Guggenheim Fellow, and has been awarded two Edgar Awards for best novel, as well as the Grand Master Award, by the Mystery Writers of America.

Two for Texas was adapted by TNT for television, and Heaven’s Prisoners and In the Electric Mist were theatrical releases. The Robicheaux series has been translated into almost every language in the world. Burke and his wife, Pearl, have four children and four grandchildren, and live on a ranch in western Montana.

Join us on November 21st for this discussion between two old friends!

To purchase your copies of The Dirty South  and A Private Cathedral from one of SBF's booksellers, simply click on one of their logos below:

Savannah Book Festival presents John Connolly and James Lee Burke