Buckle up for a high-octane ride through the South’s shadowed heart
Author C.H. Hooks will be in conversation with John T Edge for Hooks’ Can’t Shake the Dust, a Southern coming-of-age novel set in the strip malls and racing circuits of South Georgia. The conversation and signing will take place Tuesday, October 15 at 5:30 pm at Off Square Books. If you can’t make it, tune in virtually via Facebook Live at facebook.com/SquareBooks/.
About the book
“Little” Bill Lemon, III, stands at the crossroads of a troubled legacy. From the notorious Monkey Palace, his grandfather’s bar, to the enigmatic history of his father, Wild, to his mother’s questionable dog-breeding business, Little takes to the dirt track every Saturday night, racing to outpace the looming shadows of his family’s past. Behind the wheel of a ramshackle DIY car, in a place where scarcity reigns—be it money, jobs, food, or even soap to cleanse the stubborn Georgia red dirt—Little teeters on the edge of self-destruction and redemption. As he navigates life on the fringe of Southern backroads, the weight of his ancestry threatens to pull him under. Can’t Shake the Dust is an exhilarating tale of resilience, tenacity, and the indomitable spirit of those who dare to race against all odds.
About the author
C.H. Hooks is the author of the novels Alligator Zoo-Park Magic (2019) and Can’t Shake the Dust (2024). His work has appeared in print and online publications including: The Los Angeles Review, American Short Fiction, Four Way Review, The Tampa Review, and The Bitter Southerner. He has been a Tennessee Williams Scholar and Contributor at Sewanee Writers’ Conference. He can be found on the waters around St. Augustine where he teaches at Flagler College.
About the conversation partner
John T. Edge is the author of The PotLikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, named a best book of 2017 by NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, and a host of others. For twenty-two years, he served as a columnist for the Oxford American, and for three years he wrote the United Tastes column for the New York Times. He is director of the Mississippi Lab in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Mississippi, where his projects include the launch of Greenfield Farm Writers Residency. From 1999 through 2021, he was director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Now retired from that position, he occasionally helps the SFA with fundraising and special projects. He is also the host of the television show TrueSouth on the SEC Network, ESPN, and Hulu. He lives here in Oxford.
