FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Next weekend, all Southern literary roads lead to Fairhope.

Now in its 11th year, the Southern Writers Reading “literary slugfest” kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, at Centennial Hall at Faulkner State Community College, continuing at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22.

“Southern Writers Reading is one of those rare chances you get to talk in a very, very relaxed environment, not just about the books you write and why you wrote them, but the craft of writing,” said Pulitzer Prize-winner and native son Rick Bragg, Friday night’s featured writer. “Book signings and book festivals can sometimes feel a little mechanical, but this event never does. Plus, it’s in Fairhope, one of the prettiest places I know.”

For more than a decade, a weekend in November on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay has become the place to be for a growing circle of writers and readers to get together, read from their works, hear rising literary stars, spin yarns, see old pals and make new friends.

“It is something very unique, an event that offers the community the opportunity to hear some fine reading, and at the same time, providing a forum for a ‘family of writers’ to come together and recharge,” said writer Doug Crandell, who will introduce Sonny Brewer Friday, one of the event’s founders. “Fairhope is the high holy spot for writers every November. That’s why I make the pilgrimage from Atlanta. I get to hear my heroes read, along with a new crop of exciting new voices. In these uncertain times, I’m comforted by the idea of a weekend of literary revival in Fairhope.”

This year’s event is a reader’s feast, a true smorgasbord of styles and genres featuring best-selling memoirs, literary and historical fiction, and contemporary nonfiction, with readings on Saturday by Carolyn Jourdan, Ravi Howard, Tito Perdue, Tasha Alexander and Clay Risen. A quick visit to the Web sites of those writers will give a sense of what the weekend promises to be.

As in years past, Friday night will also bring music to the table, this year with musician, songwriter and poet, Tom Kimmel.

“It’s a great pleasure to be a part of next week’s event,” Kimmel said from the road in Colorado Thursday night. “I grew up in nearby Monroeville, Robertsdale, Jackson and Camden, and am a University of Alabama grad, but it’s all too seldom that I get to share my music or poetry in my home state. Plus the east side of Mobile Bay’s always been special to me — my record label and press imprint is Point Clear Records & Press.”

Kimmel’s songs have been performed in movies, television shows and albums by artists, including Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Randy Travis, Nancy Griffith, Shawn Colvin, Roger McGuinn, Richie Havens, The Oak Ridge Boys and Linda Ronstadt.

“Sonny Brewer’s got a sweet thing going in Fairhope, and I’m proud to be a part,” Kimmel said.

The Southern Writers Reading event is looked forward to each year by many people, near and far, but one that marches more to the beat of the different drummers who show up carrying their books and stories, than in lockstep to a strict schedule.

“The thing just seems to have a life of its own, and always seems to come together in a slightly different and better format than it was the year before,” said Mac Walcott, one of the event’s founders. “There is always a twist or surprise or two that Sonny sneaks in at the last minute that keeps us all wondering what will come next. He conducts this little revival each year like a minister who does his sermons without notes, straight from the heart, and, like the great preacher and lover of literature that he is, Sonny lifts up and blesses each of the writers as if they were his own family.”

The event starts 6 p.m. Friday, with Kimmel warming the room up with music as folks come inside.

“Then our literary slugfest gets under way with an announcement of the winners of our college writing contest, and a brief reading — a poem and short story,” Brewer said. “Then I’ll introduce our good buddy, Rick Bragg, who’ll do his thing until he quits. And at that time, whatever time that is, Tom Kimmel will take over and do a concert.”

After the writers read from their works on Saturday, there will be a question-and-answer period, he said.

The weekend will also attract a number of other writers who won’t be on the stage but will be the subject of tapings for Alabama Public Television, such as Joe Galloway, whose book became the movie “We Were Soldiers,” according to an event news release.

“The feedback we get is that it is a wonderful, low-key, friendly event that celebrates writers and gives them a chance to meet and visit with their peers and a few other book industry people,” said Skip Jones, one of the event’s founders. “It’s kind of hard to describe the weekend to folks who aren’t avid readers, but we have made believers out of almost everyone who has come.”

Although the event is often tagged as the creation of Brewer, he is adamant about how it came about, saying it would not have happened but for the work of the board of the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts, including Walcott, Jones, Betty Joe Wolff, Martin Lanaux, Jim Gilbert and others in the Fairhope community.

“You can claim you built your house by hand yourself,” said Brewer, author of “The Poet of Tolstoy Park” and “Cormac: The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing.” “But somebody sawed the boards, somebody made the nails, and somebody drove the materials to the job site. Just like with anything worth doing, it requires a group effort.”

For information about Southern Writers Reading, contact Shari Smith at (828) 459-9797 or oldporchfarm@yahoo.com.