Chapter 16

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.

The Bewilderment of Memory

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

By Maria Browning | January 9, 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 Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 23.

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.

How to Live and at What Cost

Poet Anders Carlson-Wee on his new collection, Disease of Kings

By Maria Browning | October 5, 2023

Anders Carlson-Wee’s second poetry collection, Disease of Kings, explores a story of friendship, loneliness, and survival. Carlson-Wee will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

Be Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical Memoir

Darius Stewart
Belt Publishing
276 pages
$19.99

“Through a mix of straightforward memoir, brilliantly surreal reveries, and moments of startling imagery and insight, Stewart’s explorations of love, illness, chemical dependency, desire, family, joy, shame, loneliness, and beauty coalesce into a wrenching, musical whole.”

~the publisher