Suzanne Van Atten

Los Angeles

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Contributing Editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Articles

Atlanta literary nonprofit eyes permanent home in Candler Park

1 week ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

Lost in the Letters is a grassroots literary organization that debuted in 2012 with a reading at Highland Ballroom. Since those humble beginnings it has evolved into a small but ambitious nonprofit that hosts quarterly readings and writing workshops and an annual Letters Festival. The organization will hit a major milestone in late summer when it opens a permanent home in Candler Park.
5 summer beach reads

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

With summer just days away, the time is now to stock up on beach reads. Here are five page-turners to keep you company at your favorite body of water, be it ocean, river, pool or bath. The quintessential Southern writer of folksy, feel-good stories, Fannie Flagg is back with a new book this summer sure to please fans of her beloved novels “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,” and “Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!,” among others.
A son marks Father's Day with a book on his dad's mysterious death

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

This Father’s Day promises to be a memorable one for James B. Wells. The retired criminal justice professor, who grew up in Atlanta and attended Woodward Academy, has spent three decades investigating what he believes is a government cover-up surrounding the 1965 death of his father in Vietnam.
Atlanta native's ‘Great Black Hope’ explores risky messiness of young adulthood

4 weeks ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

Atlanta native Rob Franklin has delivered a dazzling literary debut with his novel “Great Black Hope” (Summit Books, $28.99), a zeitgeisty social commentary on race and class among a rarefied subculture of New York City and its intersection with the legal system and the media. Think “Bonfire of the Vanities” meets “Bright Lights, Big City” for the pre-pandemic era. Smith is a gay, Black Stanford grad from a wealthy family in Atlanta, working at a startup in Manhattan.
You oughta know ‘Why Alanis Morissette Matters’

1 month ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

There was a time from the mid-to-late-’90s when you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing recording artist Alanis Morissette blaring from the speakers. Tracks like “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic” from “Jagged Little Pill,” her chart-topping, Grammy-winning album that would go on to sell more than 30 million copies, were ubiquitous on the airwaves. With Morissette’s defiant delivery and message of empowerment, it’s no surprise she became a Gen X touchstone, particularly for women.
These hot new Southern reads belong on your summer list

1 month ago | macon.com | Suzanne Van Atten

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the publishing industry will release more than 40 new books with Southern connections, be they set in the South, about the South or written by Southern authors. Winnowing that down to a manageable list of recommended titles proved challenging this year. So, in addition to our top 10 most highly anticipated books of the season, we've included 10 bonus titles from the full-to-bursting genres of nonfiction and thrillers.
Need a summer read? These are the South’s hottest new books

1 month ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the publishing industry will release more than 40 new books with Southern connections, be they set in the South, about the South or written by Southern authors. Winnowing that down to a manageable list of recommended titles proved challenging this year. So, in addition to our top 10 most highly anticipated books of the season, we’ve included 10 bonus titles from the full-to-bursting genres of nonfiction and thrillers.
‘Run for the Hills’ is about 4 siblings on a life-altering road trip

1 month ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

In light of the current state of affairs (pick one: the government, the economy, climate change, war, etc.), I find myself gravitating these days toward books that entertain and comfort. And one of the tropes I find most comforting in fiction is the found family — stories about an odd assemblage of unrelated people who come together to form an awkward but loving unit. Tennessee author Kevin Wilson’s new novel is kind of the opposite of that, but it has the same effect.
For Mother’s Day, two events celebrate books about moms

1 month ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

My love of reading directly results from my mother, the most voracious reader I’ve ever known. A devotee of libraries, she would go every few weeks and bring home stacks of books that she devoured late into the night while the rest of the family slept. One stack I recall from the ‘80s contained Tina Turner’s autobiography and a book by Henry Kissinger about the Nixon administration, perfectly illustrating how varied her interests were.
Dave Eggers to deliver keynote at Children’s Book Festival in Decatur

2 months ago | ajc.com | Suzanne Van Atten

This week’s Bookshelf is about two new books, a collection of eerie short stories and a novel about gentrification in Atlanta, plus a celebration of books for young readers. Southern gothic. Julia Elliott writes delightfully disturbing short stories rendered in such lush detail and gorgeous prose, it’s easy to get lost in the wildly different worlds she creates, whether it’s a medieval convent, a magical forest or a tiny town in rural South Carolina.