Ernest James Gaines was born in 1933 in Louisiana, but as a teenager moved with his family to California during the Great Migration. He found his voice as a fiction writer who dives into the Black experience. Gaines' subjects are men and women from rural communities navigating day-to-day life with the backdrop of racial injustice. His most popular novel is The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman , a fictional personal history from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. This is his story.

An exhibit at Art Ventures gallery in Fayetteville, titled Personal Space , opens Sept. 5 with a reception featuring eight artists with disabilities and other challenges.

The first weekend of September features the return of Pesto Fest and of the Dirt Band, the final concerts of the KUAF Summer Jazz Concert Series, and more. Wednesday, Sept. 4 Lucas Parker, Kadela, Cadillac Jackson at George's Majestic Lounge (Fayetteville) - 9 p.m. Psychotic Reaction, Gardensnakes, The Wirms at Backspace (Fayetteville) - $5 donation at the door, 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 Muscadine Bloodline, Randall King at George's Majestic Lounge (Fayetteville) - $10 adv, $12 day of, 9:30 p.m.

The next issue of The Idle Class , the largest ever, is devoted to visual artists. We get a preview.

Jason Suel is a familair face on Northwest Arkansas television. The seventh season of Later with Jason Suel begins Saturday on FOX24 and Good Day NWA moves to 11 a.m. on Monday on KNWA.

In 2016, the city of Springdale joined a nationwide monarch butterfly habitat cultivation initiative. Since then, the Shiloh Museum and a group called Springdale for Monarchs have been partnering with local schools to create a milkweed flyway for the migrating butterflies along the Razorback Greenway.

Startup Junkie is hosting the NWA Startup Crawl in Fayetteville Aug. 13. The annual event allows participants to sample beer while meeting local entreprenuers and learning more about their startup companies.

Saturday night, Mount Sequoyah hosts a fine dining experience that includes a blindfold.

The 350-member University of Arkansas Razorback Marching Band has replaced traditional paper sheet music with personal tablets and smartphones containing downloaded digital scores.

The 2019 KUAF Summer Jazz Concert Series concludes Saturday night with two shows, one at 7 p.m. and another at 9:30 p.m., at the Guisinger Music House in Fayetteville.