Southern Voices 2012
20th Annual Conference
An Evening With Scott Turow
“No one writes better mystery suspense novels than Scott Turow.” –Los Angeles Times
Friday, February 17, 2012 in the the Library Theatre - Reception follows.
Southern Voices warmly welcomes best-selling novelist Scott Turow to our conference. After the presentation, we invite you to join Mr. Turow on the Library Plaza for a book signing and reception, catered by the Wynfrey Hotel. Books will be available for purchase.
Scott Turow set the bar for legal thrillers in 1987 with the publication of his explosive debut novel, Presumed Innocent. Since that time, the writer and attorney has penned nine best-selling novels, including The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, The Laws of 
Our Fathers, Personal Injuries, Reversible Errors and most recently, Innocent, the long-awaited sequel to his first book. In addition, Turow has written two nonfiction books which include One L, about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment, a reflection on the death penalty. Turow has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Playboy and The Atlantic. He has won a number of literary awards, including the Heartland Prize in 2003 for Reversible Errors, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 2004 for Ultimate Punishment and Time Magazine's Best Work of Fiction, 1999 for Personal Injuries. His books have been translated into more than 25 languages and have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
After graduating with high honors from Amherst College in 1970, Turow attended the Stanford University Creative Writing Center on an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship. He taught creative writing at Stanford as an E.H. Jones Lecturer for three years before entering Harvard Law School in 1975, where he graduated with honors. Upon graduation from law school, Turow accepted a position as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago.
Turow continues to work as an attorney. He has been a partner in the Chicago office of an international firm, SNR Denton, since 1986, concentrating on white collar criminal defense while also devoting a substantial amount of time to pro bono matters. In one such case, he represented Alejandro Hernandez in the successful appeal that preceded Hernandez’s release after nearly twelve years in prison – including five on death row – for a murder he did not commit.
Mr. Turow has been active in a number of charitable causes, including organizations that promote literacy, education and legal rights. From 1997-1998, he served as president of the Authors Guild, the nation's largest membership organization of professional writers and is presently serving as president once again. He is also a trustee of Amherst College.
Along with Southern Voices alumni Greg Iles and Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow plays in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a musical group of best-selling authors that raises funds for various literary charities.
Arthur Price
Friends Gallery - Theatre Level • Artwork on display through March
Arthur Price is an artist, gardener and visionary who has imaginatively painted since he was a child. An Alabama native, Price studies myths, fables and legends of many cultures past and present. After studying at the Atlanta College of Art, he and his wife, fellow artist and gardener Caren, moved to a farm near the Cahaba River in Shelby County, Alabama, where they grow organic vegetables and herbs and care for their horses and rescued dogs and cats.
Arthur’s work reminds the viewer of the harmony, peaceful balance and rejuvenation offered by nature. His work manifests in the form of large, un-stretched canvases stained with chimerical veils of muted, monochromatic washes that combine before the eyes into ethereal beings, emerging from and merging with shadows. They give a momentary glimpse into a timeless dimension of our world where benevolent spirits are at work and play.
Arthur paints in a small studio imbued by nature, where birds nest in the rafters. When the studio is not large enough for the size of the canvas on which he loves to work, he moves outside to the trees and hangs the canvas from branches using a pulley system of his own invention. Arthur spends his days in faded overalls, transforming canvas into mystical wonderlands, influenced by the surrounding woods.
Arthur’s artistic motivation is in the “honoring of imagination through the personification of nature. My pieces have serious and fantastical images of people, animals and spirits that are submerged into nature. They are things that people will immediately recognize. They are interesting yet unusual combinations, from floating spirits to ancient ceremonies to sea turtles gathered on a beach. They tend to combine in dreamlike ways.”
Price’s work has captivated public attention since his days in art school, and are now amongst many private and public collections, including Alabama Power, Baptist Montclair Hospital, Mountain Brook Country Club, Stillwater Country Club, Cantina and GianMarco’s restaurants.
Karin Slaughter
Mark Childress
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Anna Jean (A. J.) Mayhew
Jeffrey Stepakoff
James L. Swanson
