By Brittany Joyce, contributor
“This place just creaks with history,” Atlanta journalist and author Josh Green said as he took the podium to kick off Ivy Hall’s winter writers series on Thursday Jan. 16. With a knack for finding the delicate balance between the all too serious and the laugh out loud funny, Green read from his recently released first book, “Dirtyville Rhapsodies.” A collection of 18 short stories, the book is an ode to his time in Atlanta, what he calls the “capitol of the Dirty South.” “Dirtyville Rhapsodies” showcases a wide range of subject matter, vividly illustrating tales of personal misfortune and humorous debacles along the way.
As he began to flip through the pages of “Dirtyville Rhapsodies,” Green took a moment to attribute the grittiness in his stories to his background in crime, having worked on the journalism crime beat for a number of years when he first came to Atlanta. His reading of “The Abduction” most represented this, Green calling it a “direct product of dealing with real life missing persons cases.” He also read from “Exaltation,” a story with a strong female protagonist, her name an homage to his eccentric grandmother, and “Down and Out at the Breastfeeding School,” the silver medal winner of Creative Loafing Atlanta’s 2013 fiction battle.
Green’s stories demonstrate the power of small moments in otherwise mundane days, something he continuously looks for as both a reporter and as an artist. Most of his stories in “Dirtyville Rhapsodies” are inspired by real life experience – whether they’re taken from a crime scene or that time he himself attended a breastfeeding convention. “You come across something in the day that you want to incorporate later that night,” he explained while describing his schedule of writing, working and writing some more.
Since its release in May 2013, “Dirtyville Rhapsodies” has been named a top read by “Paste Magazine” and a “Best Book for the Beach” by “Men’s Health Magazine.” Green’s work has also appeared in publications such as “Atlanta Magazine,” “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,” “Indianapolis Monthly,” “The Los Angeles Review” and “Ascent.” Now he is turning his focus towards his upcoming novel, something he has looked at his short stories as a training ground for. And after such an engaging, rollercoaster of a reading, a novel from Green is something to look forward to.