Regina Black Credit: Katie Childs
Whether you’re eager to find a surprise bestseller with an underwater creature as its protagonist (“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt), cynical about the integrity of musicmaking in the era of mass streaming (“Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist” by Liz Pelly), curious about the history of racial inequality in American education (“The Battle for the Black Mind” by Karida Brown), or looking for a crime thriller that, according to The Washington Post, “blurs any imaginary line between genre and great literature” (“Saint of the Narrows Street” by William Boyle), the Central Arkansas Library System’s Six Bridges Book Festival has a book for you. With nearly 50 visiting writers in tow, it’s likely that any other stray fascination you can imagine will also be represented at the festival, which runs the gamut from fiction to nonfiction to poetry.
Arkansas writers appearing at Six Bridges include Regina Black, Kevin Brockmeier, Viktoria Capek, Eli Cranor, Susie Dumond, Buckley T. Foster, Carolyn Guinzio, Maria Hoskins, Jared Lemus, Linsey Miller, Adolph L. Reed Jr., Kat Robinson, Ginny Myers Sain, Vaughn Scribner, Alex Vernon, Neena Viel and Rhona Weaver.
Getting fully prepared for Six Bridges, which runs from Sept. 28-Oct. 5, might be the world’s longest homework assignment, so we’ve collected a handful of email and phone interviews with Arkansas-connected authors to whet your palate. For a full schedule, head to cals.org/six-bridges-book-festival.
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When Little Rock author Regina Black isn’t daylighting as a dean at the William H. Bowen School of Law, she writes romance novels. Following “The Art of Scandal” — “a steamy and evocative debut,” according to Publishers Weekly — she published “August Lane” in 2025, which The New York Times referred to as “a powerhouse of the genre.” Anchored in the fictional town of Arcadia, Arkansas, “August Lane” mines the lives of Luke Randall, a one-hit-wonder country artist whose relevance is fading; August Lane, Luke’s former lover and the uncredited lyricist behind his biggest song; and JoJo Lane, August’s accomplished mother, whose soon to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Both of your novels are focused on creative people — musicians in “August Lane” and visual artists in “The Art of Scandal.” What is it about the creative life that captures your imagination?
I’m drawn to creative people because they live in this constant tension between vulnerability and courage. There’s something deeply romantic about someone who creates not because they have to, but because they can’t not create. In both books, my characters are grappling with the gap between their artistic dreams and reality. As someone who writes around the margins of a demanding career, I understand that feeling.
“August Lane” by Regina Black
The bulk of your career has been in the legal sphere, first as a litigator and now as a law school administrator. How do those experiences impact your writing? And how do you find the time to do it amongst all of that professional responsibility?
Lawyers are trained writers, researchers, and storytellers, all of which are necessary for writing good fiction. Working at the law school, I encounter so many different types of people every day, and that makes me more empathetic and creative. With romance specifically, a huge part of being effective is presenting evidence that two people should end up together. If the reader roots for their happy ending, you’ve won the argument.
I’ve learned to write in stolen moments. Twenty minutes at a time before work, a few hours on weekends. Having limited time makes me more focused. I plan and outline everything because I can’t afford to waste hours staring at a blank page. When I sit down to write, I know exactly what needs to happen in that scene.
“August Lane” centers on several people with connections to Black country music. Did you take inspiration from any real musicians — famous or otherwise — in dreaming up these characters?
Jojo Lane, August’s mother, was inspired by Vanessa Williams and Tina Turner. Both are dynamic singers who waded through trauma and scandal on the road to being legends. I also interviewed Black women country singers while I was writing the book. Their voices are woven through the pages.
Who’s the writer you’re most excited to encounter at Six Bridges and why?
Dolen Perkins-Valdez. She’s such an inspiration and I can’t wait to hear her discuss her work.