Suzanne Hudson (rps.hudson@gmail.com) is the internationally prize-winning author of three novels, including In a Temple of Trees and In the Dark of the Moon; a “fictional-ish memoir,” Shoe Burnin’ Season: A Womanifesto; and two collections of short stories, Opposable Thumbs (a John Gardner Fiction Book Award finalist) and All the Way to Memphis. Hudson has been named the 2025 state of Alabama recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for excellence in short fiction writing. She lives near Fairhope, Alabama, at Waterhole Branch Productions, with her husband, author Joe Formichella.

Schedule

10:00 am to 11:00 am

State Capitol, House Committee Room 3

The Best of the Shortest: Short Fiction

with Joe Formichella, Suzanne Hudson, Bev Marshall, Janet Nodar, Theodore Pitsios, Dayne Sherman, and Karen Spears Zacharias

11:15 am to Noon

Cavalier House Books Tent

Book Signing

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

State Capitol, House Committee Room 2

Long Strange Trip: DysFUNctional Fictional Families

with Joe Formichella and Suzanne Hudson

3:15 pm to 4:00 pm

Cavalier House Books Tent

Book Signing

The Best of the Shortest: A Southern Writers Reading Reunion

“This collection is quite positively on fire with humor and heartache, darkness and light, and countless blazing turns of phrase. An essential addition to every Southern reader’s collection. I have known and admired a fair number of writers in these pages for a long time but seeing their work all together like this fills me up with love, love, love.”—Michael Knight, Eveningland, winner of a Truman Capote Award, a NYTimes editor’s pick, and a Southern Book of the Year (Southern Living Magazine).

Short stories from the following authors are included:   

Marlin Barton + Rick Bragg + Sonny Brewer + Doug Crandell + Pia Z. Ehrhardt + David Wright Faladé + Beth Ann Fennelly + Joe Formichella + Patricia Foster + Tom Franklin + Robert Gatewood + Jason Headley + Jim Gilbert + Frank Turner Hollon + Suzanne Hudson + Joshilyn Jackson + Bret Anthony Johnston + Abbott Kahler + Doug Kelley + Cassandra King + Suzanne Kingsbury + Dawn Major + Bev Marshall + Michael Morris + Janet Nodar + Jennifer Paddock + Theodore Pitsios + Lynn Pruett + Ron Rash + Michelle Richmond + R. P. Safire + Dayne Sherman + George Singleton + Robert St. John + Sidney Thompson + Daniel Wallace + Daren Wang + James Whorton, Jr. + Mac Walcott + Karen Spears Zacharias

The Fall of the Nixon Administration

A wealthy eccentric widow, her youthful gigolo, her disapproving daughter, said daughter's closeted husband, a crazy stalker, the hired help, an ex-marine, and a congress of doomed chickens.