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Southern Festival of Books 2023

Map for the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee

We will be attending the Southern Festival of Books in 2023 It is in Nashville again this year, and we loved it so much last year, we can’t wait to get back. We look forward to seeing so many friends, especially, our wonderful Linda Parsons has a book that we published featured, Valediction. She’ll be there with us at booth number 27. Come see us there!

This will be the 35th annual Southern Festival of Books–among the oldest literary festivals in the country. It is free to attend with performance stages, food trucks, publishers and booksellers. (We’ll be at booth #27.)

Festival weekend (Oct. 21 and 22) takes place in downtown Nashville. The Festival grounds include Bicentennial Mall State Park, the Tennessee State Museum, and the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Read more at their website: https://sofestofbooks.org/schedule

At the sponsors dinner during the Southern Festival of books 2022. At back are Linda Parsons and Pauletta Hansel, and seated are Susan O'Dell Underwood, Kim Davis, and Jeff Hardin. All are glowing.
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AWP 2023 Recap

The Madville Publishing booth at AWP23.

We had a wonderful time at AWP 2023 in Seattle

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Pulpwood Queens 2023 Recap

We had a great time spreading madness at the 23rd annual INTERNATIONAL PULPWOOD QUEENS AND TIMBER GUYS BOOK CLUB READING NATION CONVENTION!

We were proud to represent the following incredible past and current Pulpwood Queens authors:

See some of our favorite mad moments below!


  • Author Antonina Duridanova (New Beginnings: From Behind the Iron Curtain to America) dances during the "Hair Ball."
  • Keynote author J. Lawrence Matthews (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes), author Ruthie Landis (Acting Lessons for Living: Guided Journal), author Kathy Ramsperger (The Shores Of Our Souls), author T.K. Thorne (Behind the Magic Curtain), [Unknown]. [Unknown], [Unknown], author Lara Bernhardt (Red Rain), and author Beth M. Howard (Making Piece) pose for a group photo during the Author Meet and Greet and Book Launch for Anju Gattani's "Dynasties" event.
  • Author Robert Gwaltney (The Cicada Tree) hugs author Laura (Recent book name here) while keynote speaker and author J. Lawrence Matthews (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes)
  • Madville founder Kim Davis and author Robert Gwaltney (The Cicada Tree) pose together for a photograph during the Author Meet and Greet event. Photo by author and photographer Lee Zacharias (What a Wonderful World This Could Be).
  • Authors Cassandra King Conroy (Tell Me a Story) and Wondra Chang (Sonju) chat during the Author Meet & Greet event.
  • Keynote Author J. Lawrence Matthews discusses his latest book, One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes.
  • Author Antonina Duridanova (New Beginnings: From Behind the Iron Curtain to America) laughs during the "Hair Ball," and is photobombed by Liz Davis' hand.
  • Author Eileen Sanches (Freedom Lessons: A Novel) dances during the "Hair Ball."
  • Madville founder Kim Davis laughs as a patron browses the Madville books available at our table.
  • Keynote author J. Lawrence Matthews, (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes), and Pulpwood Queens founder Kathy L. Murphy, (The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Keynote author J. Lawrence Matthews, (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes), and Pulpwood Queens founder Kathy L. Murphy, (The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life), are photographed laughing together during the Author Meet and Greet and Book Launch for Anju Gattani's "Dynasties" event.
  • Pulpwood Queen's founder Kathy L. Murphy's son-in-law dresses up in a hat, scarf, and glasses and salutes with author Tracy Lea Carnes (The Darlings of Sundance) and a painting of her book cover. Book cover art by Pulpwood Queens founder Kathy L. Murphy.
  • Three Pulpwood Queens atendees take a moment to check in with the outside world and scroll on their phone.
  • Madville Founder Kim Davis wears a sari during the Author Meet and Greet and Book Launch for Anju Gattani's "Dynasties" event.
  • Author Carol Van De Hende shows off her novel, Orchid Blooming.
  • Film crew members author Mark Green, Drew, and R.J. smile for the camera as they watch the convention chaos.
  • Authors Robert Gwaltney of (The Cicada Tree) keynote speaker and author J. Lawrence Matthews (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes) pose with Kim Davis' daughter, Liz Davis, during the "Hair Ball."
  • Authors Zoe Disigny (The Art of Traveling Strangers), keynote speaker J. Lawrence Matthews (One Must Tell the Bees: Abraham Lincoln and the Final Education of Sherlock Holmes), Carol Van Den Hende (Orchid Blooming), and keynote author Ann Hood (Fly Girl: A Memoir) take a selfie at the Over the Moon” “Hair Ball.”
  • Author Robert Gwaltney (The Cicada Tree) moderates the Book & Film panel with Author/Screenwriter, Tracy Carnes of (The Darlings of Sundance: A Novel) and Pulpwood Queens founder Kathy L. Murphy, who created the cover art for Tracy’s book.
  • Madville founder Kim Davis and her daughter Liz Davis pose with author Anju Gattani and her new book, Dynasties, at the Author Meet and Greet/Launch Party for Dynasties.
  • Author Anju Gattani (Dynasties) dances during the "Hair Ball."
  • Anju Gattani (Dynasties) poses with a bookclub member dressed as a cow during the "Hair Ball."

We hope you’ll come get MAD with us at Pulpwood Queens next year!

Find out more and register for 2024’s Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys convention today!

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Rita Quillen’s Poetry a 2023 Pulpwood Queens Selection

Front cover of Some Notes You Hold: Poems by Rita Simms Quillen. Cover art "Layers (Blue Wings) by Suzanne Stryk shows blue bird wings layered over newspaper clippings and dry leaves. Two awards are on the cover, a silver one and a pink one

Madville Publishing is excited for one of our favorite authors, Rita Quillen. Her poetry collection, Some Notes You Hold, has been selected as an International Pulpwood Queens & Timberwood Guys Book Club bonus pick for 2023!

Front cover of Some Notes You Hold: Poems by Rita Simms Quillen. Cover art "Layers (Blue Wings) by Suzanne Stryk shows blue bird wings layered over newspaper clippings and dry leaves. Two awards are on the cover, a silver one and a pink one

The selection of Some Notes You Hold, Rita Quillen’s beautiful, introspective poetry collection published by Madville in October, 2020, was announced at the International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Girlfriend’s Weekend Book Club Convention on Amelia Island. We are particularly proud of this selection as it is unusual for a poetry book to catch the attention of a book club. In this case, the Pulpwood Queens knew Rita Sims Quillen already, as last year, they read her novel, Wayland.

A little about the book:

Some Notes You Hold: Poems is about surviving what life throws at us as we age. The so-called “golden years” are so named because of the high admission price—the tremendous losses, disappointments, illnesses, and failures we all experience if we live long enough. The first part of the book, called “Letting Go,” focuses on surviving deep grief. The middle section is a musical interlude, exploring the tremendous power of music to heal us mentally, physically, and spiritually and to reorder our thinking and our emotions. The last section, “Holding On,” explores the roads leading to survival: prayer and meditation, communion with the natural world, and writing. The price paid for those “golden years” leads to the prize: insight, joy, and a kind of peace we were incapable of when we were young. read more…


The Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend 2023 on Amelia Island in Florida. Shows a sepia-toned woman on a moon with a brown background.

In addition to this surprise bonus pick, Madville Publishing is also proud to represent these current and past Pulpwood Queen authors at this convention: