CAUTION: Slant Books in Seattle, publisher of Bret Lott’s new Gather the Olives, set in Israel, terms it to be a “dangerous” book.
“That’s because it is about peace in a time when peace in the Holy Land is a faraway, even radical notion.”
And, it amplifies, “Hence the danger: this book might remind its brave readers of how peace is nourished and how hope can’t be extinguished.”
As an esteemed tenured professor at the College of Charleston where Lott has taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years, his name will be familiar to many readers of the Charleston City Paper in the Lowcountry and beyond. Those 30 years, by the way, were interrupted by a brief stint (2004-2007) at Louisiana State University, where he was editor of the renowned Southern Review. That he chose to “come home” after only three years in such a very prestigious situation underscores his deep affinity for the Lowcountry…