Chapter 16

Straight on ‘til Morning

The River Will Be a Part of Us chronicles a remarkable youthful adventure

By Maria Browning | November 15, 2024

In the summer of 1981, a group of young people from the U.S. and Germany launched a homemade raft on the Missouri River near Kansas City, determined to float all the way to New Orleans. Nashvillian Justus Wayne Thomas documented the trip with his camera, and his striking photographs of the crew and the landscape they journeyed through are collected in The River Wil Be a Part of Us.

The Bewilderment of Memory

Characters can’t escape the past in Jill McCorkle’s Old Crimes

By Maria Browning | August 23, 2024

Jill McCorkle’s new story collection resonates with sympathy for characters struggling to make peace with themselves and those they love. McCorkle will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

The Whole Truth

Novelist Jill Ciment reconsiders her own story

By Maria Browning | June 13, 2024

When novelist Jill Ciment was 17, she began a relationship with her art teacher, a married man 30 years her senior. Their love affair became a marriage that lasted until her husband’s death more than four decades later. Ciment wrote about their romance in her 1996 memoir, Half a Life. In a new book, Consent, Ciment reconsiders their story. Ciment will discuss the book with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 27.

Obsessed with Understanding

Poet Jenny Qi on what shapes her work

By Maria Browning | April 19, 2024

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: The child of Chinese immigrants, Jenny Qi entered Vanderbilt at 16, lost her mother while she was still an undergraduate, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical science while pouring her grief into poetry. Her award-winning debut collection, Focal Point, explores sorrow, death, and what we owe to each other.

Taking Real Action

Andrew Maraniss on his new series of biographies for young readers

By Maria Browning | February 26, 2024

In his books Strong Inside, Singled Out, and Inaugural Ballers, Andrew Maraniss explored the intersection of sports, identity, and social justice. Now he’s bringing those themes to Beyond the Game: Athletes Change the World, a new series of biographies for young readers. Maraniss will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 5.

Bearing Witness

David Dark on resisting “deferential fear”

By Maria Browning | November 1, 2023

In We Become What We Normalize, David Dark considers the societal cost of going along to get along. Dark will discuss the book at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 10, Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on November 12, and Novel in Memphis on November 19.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker