Dr. John Shelton Reed, author and authority on Southern life and humor, and his wife, freelance writer and musician Dale Volberg Reed, will hold a book reading and sign copies of their popular volume, 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the South, on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. at Books-A-Million in Johnson City.
The book, humorous and informative, earned praise from a wide range of fans, including well-known humorist Roy Blount, who said, “I’ve been telling people I wouldn’t give a blurb to another book if my Mama wrote it. But if Mama had written this one, I’d have to rethink my policy. It’s that good.”
Dr. Reed is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has written or edited more than a dozen books. The Kingsport native is the holder of the Wayne G. Basler Chair of Excellence for the Integration of the Arts, Rhetoric and Science for this fall semester at ETSU.
Dale Volberg Reed, a fellow Kingsport native, has worked as a writer, editor and piano teacher. The Reeds note that this was their first collaborative book, but they hope not their last, and that they have previously collaborated on two daughters.

Author