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This Tennessee author was born and raised in Jackson.

She's called herself an author since fourth grade.

She credits her mother for giving her a love of storytelling.

Get this, she sold her first book to a publisher before it was even written.

Straight ahead on Tennessee Writes, we're meeting author Avery Cunningham.

She left Jackson for college in Chicago and now calls Memphis home.

We'll find out why she writes about the 1920s, from flappers to speakeasies.

It's all ahead.

Pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee and find yoursel.. because Tennessee Writes starts right now.

Books about Tennessee.

Books that come from Tennessee authors.

Books and stories with a Tennessee twist.

West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee Writes.

[music] Welcome to Tennessee Writes, the show that gets up close and personal with Tennessee authors.

I'm Peter Noll.

This is the show that goes beyond the book to learn a.. its author from their childhood, where their stories come from.

They'll even offer advice to you if you want to write your own book.

Plus, we put the authors on a stopwatch and try and get them to answer as many questions as they can in two minutes in the Lightning Round.

Tennessee Writes welcomes author Avery Cunningham.

She was born and raised in Jackson, Tennessee, but left for the Windy City in college.

She's been a storyteller since she was a little girl.

She's all grown up now and still telling stories.

Her debut historical fiction novel is set in the roaring '20s.

Tennessee Writes welcomes Avery Cunningham.

Thanks for coming on and joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Welcome home to Jackson and Tennessee Writes.

We're just honored to have you here.

Thank you so much.

This is a thrilling opportunity.

I was so happy to be asked and to have this opportunity to speak with you about my debut novel.

We heard the research that you've considered yourself a storyteller since a little girl.

You would stand on the stool in the kitchen and tell stories, and your mom finally started writing them down.

That's exactly right.

Really, from as early as I can remember, I have been drawn to stories and narrative.

People have always asked, "You always see yourself as an author?"

My answer to that question is I've always seen myself as a storyteller.

I've always been drawn to forms of narrative, from music to film to theater to prose.

This path has always been laid out for me.

It really was just a matter of which one would fit me best.

Novel writing and being an author has certainly been my aspiration for a very long time.

You said you went to USJ in Jackson.

Yes, I did.

You must have had a very supportive system, parents, other teachers, educators, family, friends, to support that storytelling.

Certainly.

Speaking about USJ in particular, my ins.. most especially my English teachers, were so terribly enthusiastic about my aspirations.

I've always been very ambitious; you see the size of this book.

I have an ambitious type of mindset when it comes to the stories I want to tell and what I want to explore.

One thing that left a real impression on me in our senior English courses, we had to write a thesis, essentially, a mock of what we might be expected to write in graduate school or undergraduate school.

I believe the page count limit was maybe 20, 25 pages.

Mine was about 75 when I first pitched it.

Instead of telling me no, that's not possible, that's way too ambitious, my instructors were so excited by my enthusiasm and supported me the entire way.

I truly owe a great debt of gratitude to the teachers of USJ for being so encouraging.

For those of you keeping track, Avery is our second USJ grad on Tennessee Writes.

They must be doing something right at USJ.

That's right.

The 1920s' Chicago.

You chose to go to school in Chicago, college, after high school in Jackson.

Then your book — we'll talk about that in a little bit — is set in Chicago in the '20s.

What about Chicago?

What about the '20s?

Have you always loved the rip-roaring '20s?

I think the 1920s is a quintessentially American decade in terms of history.

So much happened during that decade that influenced our culture today.

It was this massive shift from the status quo and the rigidness of the early 1900s Edwardian era.

This wonderful period of individualism happened in the 1920s.

That's always a really exciting part to research and write about, especially.

It really was a bit of a hinge in history where things moved in a direction that they could never really go back, especially in this country.

The great movement of people.

This was at the height of the Great Migration.

Immigration was going through a really strong push during this time as well.

I think I've always been fascinated by this period of history and just all the implications for what we're experiencing today and what we'll experience for hundreds of years into the future.

That really those seeds were planted in the 1920s.

In terms of Chicago, I originally didn't always see myself living in Chicago.

I knew I always wanted to get into the East Coast or go North or go West.

You must like snow.

I didn't know that I liked snow until I was forced to like snow.

I always tell people Chicago winters will teach you about yourself, about what you can endure, about what you can live through.

I love Chicago as a city.

As I was saying earlier, Jackson raised me, but Chicago made me.

I think so much of who I am today and what I aspire towards, the influences, especially on my writing, those seeds were really planted in Chicago.

Would you ever move back there and call that your home?

I think that's always a dream and a wish.

I loved the five or so years I lived there.

A majority of my friends are still there, my great mentors are there, and I visit as often as possible.

For Chicago-style pizza.

Yes, of course.

Of course.

We'll see.

It's always a dream.

You do write, but you have other stuff.

Yes.

What else do y.. Were you doing any cover w.. Did I read that somewhere?

No, no.

In terms of-- Your different writings and different jobs that you've had?

Oh, well, let's see.

Before this novel in particular, I was an editor in a lot of different freelance positions, working on novels, working on literary magazines, working on different publications.

Especially going through my undergraduate and graduate experience, I always felt that I'd be a better editor.

I love seeing the threads in a story, and I love helping writers really discover the core, what they're trying to express.

It wasn't really until I was towards the end of my graduate career that I considered novel writing to be something that I should take up seriously.

Editing and really the editorial and even publishing side of literature has always been what I felt most suited for.

You mentioned your mom and dad.

What did they think when they read the book?

I'm assuming they've read the book.

Yes.

Multiple times, I believe.

Incredibly supportive as always.

I think for young writers in particular, it's always important for, if not their parents, someone in their life who's an adult figure to encourage them and tell them that this is possible.

I think when it comes to humanities, when it comes to t.. if that's something that someone wants to pursue professionally at a young age, they're very often and very quickly shut down.

Like, "Oh, that's perfect for a hobby.

That's a great way to spend your time, but there's no future in that.

You can't make any money.

You can't have a career."

My parents were always very much like, "If this is what you want to do, then we're going to give you as many opportunities.

We're going to support you, and you're going to be the best you can be at it."

I'm grateful to not only my parents, but every adult in my life who I've shared this dream with, they've been nothing but encouraging and supportive.

You mentioned that this book was published by Disney Publishing, Hyperion, but they bought it before it was written.

Yes.

How did that happen?

It's interesting.

The world of publishing is much more diverse than I think what we're led to believe, especially going through a traditional writer's program or an MFA or MA program, where the expectation is, of course, you write the book, you write it again, you write it again.

You take about five years or so doing that, and then you start querying agents.

That takes about a year and a half.

You write the book again, and then hopefully it's sold.

The whole life of a book before it even reaches publication may be 10 years, if not more, sometimes, depending on what you're writing.

That's what I went into publishing expecting, but this journey was entirely the reverse.

I owe this opportunity really to the incredible mentors that I connected with at DePaul University, who recommended me to agents, who then recommended me to publishers.

Through them and through their influence and through their belief in me, I was able to have this opportunity to sell a book on proposal as a debut, which is rare, but truly not as rare as I expected.

Once I started talking to other debut authors, it is an option for writers that I don't think many know about because it's so rare.

Was that a lot of pressure?

Oh, yes.

Because you've sold it, and now you've got a book to pr.. Exactly.

That's like a huge-- I can tell it's written, I would be ner.. It was interesting for me.

I think I-- Were you still in college when this .. No, no.

I started writing Maxwell Street in 2021, perhaps, or maybe early 2022.

I was well removed from college at that point.

It was a bit twofold.

On the one hand, there was an immense amount of p.. to prove yourself, to follow through, but also, I felt so gracious to have the opportunity to have this entity.

Disney has been the song that's playing in the background of my life for my entire life.

My first exposure to narrative was through Disney.

To then have my debut experience through a subsidiary of them, I was just so grateful and so gracious.

That feeling of acceptance and validation and rightness really overcame a lot of the stress, or at least that's what I tell myself now.

I'm sure if you ask someone who was close to me while I was writing the book, they'd say, "Oh no, you were catatonic for most of that experience."

Now, in hindsight, I was just so grateful for the opportunity.

[music] Avery, let's delve into the roaring '20s with The Mayor of Maxwell Street.

First, I just have to say the cover is so beautiful.

It is.

Is this someth.. Not at all.

There are a lot of different cover experiences .. I think each author has their own individual experience.

Is this a model?

Because she is beautiful.

Yes, she is.

Actually, I connected with her, or we connected with each other.

It's an interesting story.

To answer your initial question about how much of a role I played in this cover, really not at all.

I think it was maybe a few months before I was set to turn in my first draft of the book.

They sent me the cover and said, "Here it is."

It was so beautiful and so extravagant and wonderful, I didn't really have many comments.

I did ask.

I said, "Do I get to hav.. They're pretty much like, "Well, this is it.

You can have a say, but we can't really make any changes."

Thankfully, it was a stunning cover anyway.

I didn't really have any notes.

Other authors, they're part of the cover experience from the sketches.

They help choose the cover artist.

It really does depend on your publisher and your schedule.

Really, just each author has their own individual experience.

With this cover specifically, I have been able to connect with a lot of individuals who worked on this cover, which has been so fascinating.

The company that outsourced the design experience, I've connected with them.

The individual cover designer, she was actually able to send me some early drafts of the cover, which I now am able to keep and archive.

Then the model, of course, she's out of the UK, so we've been able to connect.

I believe somebody shared a reel on Instagram that had the cover on it.

She saw it and said, "That's me."

She reached out to me and said, "I'm your cover model."

That's been a wonderful process.

Once you get into the world of publishing, you see all the tentacles that spread out and how many people are involved.

As a writer, you think it's just you and the words and maybe your editor, maybe your publisher, maybe your agent.

Truly, there's an entire village built around the creation of just one book.

Give us just the elevator pitch of what the story is about, The Mayor of Maxwell Street.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street is set in 1921 Chicago.

It revolves around two characters: our main character, Nelly Sawyer, and our secondary main character, Jay Shorey.

Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of a nouveau riche, very wealthy Black family of horse breeders out of Kentucky.

She's come to Chicago to experience this wonderful season where many members of the universal, really, Black elite are coming together to celebrate their community and enjoy time together.

She's this new star on the horizon that everybody is very interested in, most especially because of her wealth and the opportunities that are there.

Nelly, she doesn't really want to participate in this very nouveau-chic environment.

She wants to be an investigative journalist.

She's tasked with this pretty impossible cover story for the Chicago Defender.

Identifying the head of a secret, shadowy organization called The Mayor of Maxwell Street, a person that nobody knows, nobody can find.

She takes on this task with the help of Jay Shorey, who is the proprietor of a speakeasy on Maxwell Street and has all these connections with the underground.

Together, they really dive into this world of violence, gangland, but also classism, and really just the fire that was set in Chicago in 1921 that spread really over the entire country.

[music] Avery, we've come to what some people think is the most exciting part of Tennessee Writes, the Lightning Round.

Oh God.

We put two minutes on the clock, .. about books, authors, literature, and you try and answer as many of those in two minutes as you can.

All right.

If you can't think of an a.. Oh, goodness.

Okay.

Are you ready to play?

Yes, let's go.

Okay.

The clock will start after I ask my first question.

Okay.

Estimate how many audiobooks you have listene.. 300.

How many pages would be the book about your .. To be determined.

What animal best represents your book?

A cat.

Last time you checked out a book from a public libra.. This week.

Favorite movie based on a book?

Tie between Atonement and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

How many pages is your book?

About 520.

What is the font used in your book?

Oh, I do not know.

Oh, I don't know.

[laughs] How often do you check your Amazon book reviews and ratings?

Not often at all anymore.

Anymore.

What celebrity, if you could.. do you want to narrate your book?

Bahni Turpin did such an excellent job, I'm going to stick with her.

Name a book you're reading right now.

Black In Blues by Imani Perry.

Name a food item or drink that helps you write.

Tea.

All the teas.

If you could have a book signing in any city in the wo.. where would it be?

Chicago, of course.

What author, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with?

Tennessee Williams.

Where would you go for dinner?

Somewhere in Paris.

Where do you write your books on?

A computer or by hand?

Computer.

What book have you read multiple times?

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

How many times?

Three.

Do you prefer paper books or e-books?

Both.

What actor would you want to star in the movie based on .. Denée Benton.

First book you can remember reading as a child?

Amy's Eyes.

On average, how many books do you read in one year?

50.

How many books are on your nightstand right now?

[buzzer goes off] [music] Avery, we always love to hear authors speak the words that they wrote.

Would you mind reading a short section from The Mayor of Maxwell Street?

Of course.

I'm going to change up what I usually read from, and I'm going to read from towards the middle of the book.

This is our first experience going into the Lantern Club, which is the club that Jay Shorey operates on Maxwell Street in Chicago.

I do think this is a really great section to start to get a sense of what this time period was like, what this environment feels like, and to really just see this bright, shiny new world, especially through Nelly Sawyer's eyes and through her experience.

I'm just going to read a little bit from that.

All right.

"Nelly couldn't see a thing, but she could hear and she could smell.

She could feel the stamping of 100 feet, the clapping of 100 hands amidst a fog of cigarettes, smoke, and sweat.

A slit of light appeared in the gloom, and a pair of eyes looked out at them.

'Yes,' said a gruff, impatient voice.

'Constellation,' Sam murmured the word given to them by the doorman.

The slit vanished, and hinges groaned loudly as a door opened.

Framed by a haze of light and noise stood a thin white man dressed impeccably in a full tuxedo.

He smiled at them with as much genteel amiability as the maître d' at the city's finest hotels.

'Mam, sir,' he said with a proper, dapper British accent, 'welcome to the Lantern Club.'

It was a one-room basement, long and wide, that covered the length of the building above.

A place originally used to store old furniture and furnaces had been revived as something enchanted.

The ceiling was so low that Nelly could touch it if she jumped, and every inch was strung with brightly modeled oblong lamps of copper and mosaic glass.

The glow turned the dance floor into a living kaleidoscope.

The club was packed with people, most of them dancing.

Most looked like they'd just come in off a factory floor, a restaurant's kitchen, or scrubbing toilets at a tycoon's mansion.

Others dressed in the way of the old country, wherever that might have been.

One woman in particular wore a million tiny glass teardrops, draped so that when she danced, she sparkled like the heart of a chandelier.

All this was filtered through the music's constant thrumming presence.

It drove the energy of the place, and that energy was frantic.

A woman on a stage at the far end of the club perspired and screamed.

Her voice was raw and untethered as she sang the familiar song, You Better Run, but not in the old way.

Instead of Moses and Samson, these lyrics told of 35th Street, Lincoln Theater, and the stroll.

The desperately hopeful spiritual now had a static to it that would have been sacrilegious if not for the way folk danced.

Together, they threw up their hands and sang 'Run, run, run' in all their accented English.

They moved with a current that felt like worship, bringing the song out of the South and into this bright new city of refuge."

I think that's something.

[music] Avery, what advice would you give to someone sitting out there who thinks, "I've got a story to tell," or a little girl who's watching and thinks she can be an author too?

What would you say?

I would really encourage, especially a younger person, whatever that story is, to tell it.

Do not feel constrained by any preconceived notions of what it means to be a writer, what it takes to be a writer.

Don't look at your favorite published author and think, "Oh, I can never be like that."

Every person who has a novel published today, whether it be their debut or their 20th successful novel, started as someone who just had a story on their heart that they wanted to tell.

In whatever way that that fits best for you, get that story out.

I've spoken to people before who've said, "I'm just really intimidated by the process of sitting down and writing something."

Well, then don't start that way.

Record it.

Recite it out loud.

Record yourself and then transcribe it.

There are so many ways to get whatever that story is out of you that you don't have to follow some specific regimented rule around what it means to be a writer.

Especially when I was going through academia and undergrad and grad school, we all had this idea that the great American author lived by a lake in New England.

He woke up at 11:00 and looked out at the forest and the fog and then came and, as Hemingway would say, bled into the typewriter.

Then a few hours later, there it is, the great American novel.

That's truly not the case.

Every writer has their own individual experience, their own reason for being an author.

My first act of encouragement would be to let go of those preconceived notions.

Then from there, just to practice.

Write everything.

Write everywhere.

I'm sure some of my teachers from, especially USJ, when I tell the story, will remember I used to write on the back of my quizzes and tests when I'd finish.

It was a funny experience.

I would get the grade on one side, and on the other side, they would comment on where I was in that.. because it was a series that I'd been writing.

That's also an encouragement.

Write everywhere.

Don't think that you have to wake up at 6:00 AM and sit down at a desk and open a computer and type.

Write on the back of napkins.

Write on the back of receipts.

Carry a notebook with you.

Write on your phone.

Whatever it takes to express yourself, use that as practice, just so you don't intimidate yourself before you have a reason to be intimidated.

Then, finally, read broadly.

Read everything.

Enjoy every type of story.

The classics, of course, just so you can understand where you come from, but don't think that the classics are the only things that matter.

Read contemporary authors.

Read authors of diverse backgrounds and diverse experiences.

Talk about those experiences.

Talk about these books and these stories with other people just to help inform your experience and to broaden your own perspective.

Where do you send people to get their copy of your book?

It's on audible.

Yes.

Great audible .. for those of you that like to listen to books.

Exactly.

Essentially, anywhere books are sold, you can find The Mayor of Maxwell Street.

In terms of my favorite versions, the audiobook is fantastic.

Bahni Turpin, who has narrated some of the really standout novels of the past decade, lent all of her incredible skill to my novel.

It's a cast of thousands.

She plays that cast of thousands with such skill and eloquence.

She truly changed who my favorite character was because of her interpretation of them.

I highly recommend that, if you have that opportunity, but also, please use your local library.

It is available at the libraries here in Jackson, but also in Memphis and really throughout the state of Tennessee.

If you prefer Libby, if you prefer getting a hard copy from your library, I highly encourage you to utilize that resource while we have it because libraries are so very important.

How can people stay in touch with you if they want to reach out to you?

Are you website, social media?

Where do you want to send people?

I'm most active probably on Instagram, @averywritesbigbooks.

That is my Instagram tag.

You can also find me on TikTok, Facebook, X a little bit.

My website is averycunninghamauthor.

You can always visit there to learn more and to email me.

Yes, whatever way individuals are wanting to reach out to me and get in touch with me, I love to talk with readers.

Please do not feel shy.

Avery, we have had so much fun.

30 minutes really goes by fast.

We really want to thank you for coming on Tennessee Writes, coming back home to Jackson, sharing about your story, your time at USJ, your beautiful book, The Mayor of Maxwell Street.

Thank you.

We wish you nothing but luck,.. Of course.

We know you're g.. As a thank-you gift, we gave you an All About Home, Channel 11 writing kit with a briefcase, latte mug, a notepad, and pen to help with your future writings.

Thank you.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Before you leave us to go back to Memphis, would you sign your book for us?

I'd be happy to.

Thank you.

All right.

Writers have terrible handwriting, as I'm sure you're about to see.

All right.

What to say?

To Channel 11, thank you for a lifetime of education, culture, and stories.

Avery.

For comments about today's show or to suggest a Tennessee author for a future program, email us at Tennessee Writes at westtnpbs.org.

Tennessee Writes, on air and streaming now.

[music] [closing credits] The program you've been watching was made possible through the generous financial support of West Tennessee PBS viewers like you.

Please visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

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