Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Good Medicine

A Chapter 16 contributor returns to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference

July 18, 2014 Two summers ago, when I learned I’d been accepted to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, I was weeks into a debilitating illness that had left me unable to walk and unsure how much mobility I’d ever regain. I was in constant pain, barely able to stand up on crutches. My friends and family tried to look supportive when I insisted that I would be well enough to go to Sewanee. Then they’d find a tactful way to ask me whether I’d ever seen the University of the South—all those steep hills and narrow stone steps.

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Crime and Punishment in the Wyoming Wilderness

C.J. Box, author of the Joe Pickett novels, explores evil and vengeance in a new story collection

July 16, 2014 C.J. Box’s first collection of short fiction, Shots Fired, offers a fair introduction to the author’s preoccupation with irredeemable evil. While only four of the stories feature Joe Pickett, the intrepid Wyoming game warden who appears in fourteen of Box’s novels, the rest retain Box’s fascination with sudden violence, exotic animals, and rough justice. C.J. Box will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on July 28, 2014, at 6 p.m.

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Going into the Shadows

Poet Jesse Graves gracefully explores difficult territory in Basin Ghosts

July 15, 2014 There is abundant love and tender memory in poet Jesse Graves’s new collection, Basin Ghosts, but Graves also goes gracefully into some of the most difficult territory of life. Graves will discuss Basin Ghosts at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on July 26, 2014, at 2 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, which will be held at Legislative Plaza in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

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“Pretty Music”

July 15, 2014 Jesse Graves is an assistant professor of English at Johnson City’s East Tennessee State University. His first poetry collection, Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, won the 2011 Weatherford Award in Poetry from Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association. He is also co-editor of The Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee and author of a new collection, Basin Ghosts. Graves will read from Basin Ghosts at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on July 26, 2014, at 2 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, which will be held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

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Defending the Homeland—Harvath Style

Brad Thor’s latest thriller pits his super-agent against a Chinese plot to destroy the U.S.

July 14, 2014 Among bestselling authors of thrillers, one of the biggest names is Brad Thor. With Act of War, Thor has proven once again why he is a favorite of the genre—and of American political conservatives. The fictional exploits of super-agent Scot Harvath provide a thought-provoking look at how far the U.S. should go to protect itself. Thor will sign copies of Act of War at the Brentwood Costco on July 19, 2014, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm.

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Authors on the Way

Humanities Tennessee announces the author lineup for the 2014 Southern Festival of Books

July 12, 2014 At a party at the Brentwood Public Library tonight, Humanities Tennessee unveiled the lineup of bestselling and award-winning authors set to headline the twenty-sixth Southern Festival of Books, which will be held October 10-12, 2014, at Nashville’s Legislative Plaza and downtown library.

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