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Writer Rick Bragg knows plenty about the ups and downs of life. Though he grew up dirt poor in rural Alabama, he became a successful reporter, working for newspapers throughout the South. He won glory (and a Pulitzer Prize) as a feature writer at the New York Times, but his tenure there ended in 2003 with a controversial exit. Now older, presumably wiser and more settled in his personal life, Bragg has decided to take another look at the man whose ups and downs far exceeded his own: his hard-drinking father, Charles Bragg. In the June issue of BookPage, contributor Rebecca Bain talks to Rick Bragg about his new book, The Prince of Frogtown, the final volume in a trilogy of memoirs that began with the acclaimed All Over But the Shoutin'.

In this new book, Bragg tries to piece together a picture of the father who deserted his wife and three young children, a man so consumed by alcoholism that he "lost his looks, drank his paychecks [and] wrecked his old cars." Using alternating chapters, Bragg comes to terms with his dad's anguished life and his own first experiences as a father to his 10-year-old stepson. His exploration of the ties and conflicts between fathers and sons is a perfect meditation for Father's Day, and the launching point for our coverage. Also coming up for Father's Day is a roundup that offers a variety of gift choices for dad—from Bruce Camerson's 8 Simple Rules For Marrying My Daughter to Carl Hiaasen's ruminations on golf in The Downhill Lie.

Here's more of what you'll find in the next issue of BookPage:

JUNE FEATURES

• Like many of us, David Sedaris has a thing about flying. But only Sedaris can find hilarity in being seated next to a sobbing passenger on a transatlantic flight. In his sixth essay collection, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris also applies his special brand of humor to such subjects as bow ties, lancing boils and his parents' peculiar taste in art. Since he has such varied interests, we figured Sedaris would be the perfect person to do one of our handwritten Meet the Author questionnaires, and the answers he provided were certainly surprising. Don't miss this Q&A.

• Andre Dubus III worked as a bartender, a carpenter and a teacher before he struck literary gold in 1999 with the publication of his novel, The House of Sand and Fog. He returns almost a decade later with The Garden of Last Days, a haunting look at three figures who intersect at a Florida strip club shortly before 9/11. In an interview with BookPage contributor Alden Mudge, the effusive, passionate Dubus talks about everything from building his own house in Massachusetts to taking risks as a writer. "I wrote the last part of the new book in the future master bathroom on a plywood floor near a hole in the floor where the toilet will go," says Dubus, who has a decidedly unique approach to his craft.

• On a recent visit to Concord, Massachusetts, I was thrilled to see the home where Thoreau lived when he wrote Walden, one of my personal literary favorites. If seeing the sights linked to your own favorite authors sounds like a great travel plan, you'll want to read the June Behind the Book column by Joni Rendon, co-author of Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West. Rendon and her friend Shannon McKenna Schmidt traveled to literary landscapes in Europe and America, visiting not only authors' homes, but also the places immortalized in their books. Monroeville, Alabama, the inspiration for the small-town setting of To Kill a Mockingbird, was one such location. Pack your bags and join us for an itinerary that would delight any avid reader.

The June issue also includes reviews of new books by Dean Koontz, Elizabeth Lowell, David Guterson and Jeffery Deaver. If you're compiling a summer reading list, make BookPage your first stop.

CELEBRATING AUDIOBOOK MONTH

We'll have expanded audio coverage in the June issue, including an essay by critically acclaimed author Lauren Groff on how she came to appreciate listening to books she had previously read.