A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Pain and Pure Beauty

Author Chris Offutt wastes no time in the opening of The Reluctant Sheriff, as two liquor delivery drivers come across a dead body in the parking lot of a local tavern. This body is only the first to fall. Readers who’ve come to know and love Offutt’s Mick Hardin series can safely anticipate that there will be more to follow.

A Venomous Presence

Hollow Bones, a new novel by Erica Wright, explores religious trauma, small-town life, and how fear can manipulate us. Wright will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on August 8, The Arts Building in Chattanooga on August 17, and the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Buzzing with Life

James Seay takes readers to Mississippi, Moscow, and many places in between in his latest book, a reflective and tender essay collection titled Come! Come! Where? Where? 

The Good-Heartedness Never Leaves

In the introduction to his essay collection, Asides, George Singleton writes, “There happen to be some great essayists. I don’t count myself in this group.” Readers who dive into this lovely slim book full of dogs, writing advice, and summer jobs will disagree.

The End of Tennessee as We Know It

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: David Wesley Williams takes readers on a post-apocalyptic journey from Nashville to Memphis in his latest novel, the rambunctious and rollicking Everybody Knows. Williams will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

Absurdity and Tenderness

George Singleton’s The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs shows the storyteller in top form. Singleton will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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