About the Author

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JULIA REED (1960-2020) was a contributing editor at Garden & Gun, where she wrote the magazine's "The High & the Low" column. Her books include But Mama Always Puts Vodka in Her Sangria; Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties; and Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena. Reed divided her time between New Orleans and Greenville, Mississippi.

Everett Bexley grew up in Vicksburg, Mississippi and is now pursuing an MFA in fiction at Syracuse University. He was the longtime assistant to Julia Reed. He is the author of Dispatches from the Gilded Age.

Roy Blount Jr. is the author of Alphabet Juice and books covering subjects from the Pittsburgh Steelers to Robert E. Lee to what dogs are thinking. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, the painter Joan Griswold.