In Nature’s Messenger, Patrick Dean follows an 18th-century naturalist of the American South
Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World, the second book from Sewanee-based writer Patrick Dean, relates the history of a little-known man and his greatest achievement.
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Harrison Scott Key’s How to Stay Married is a tragicomic memoir of marital crisis
Harrison Scott Key’s new memoir, How to Stay Married, relates his wife’s infidelity, his own loss of faith, and the implosion of his marriage followed by its unlikely resurrection. It’s a hoot. Really.
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David George Haskell explores all things acoustic within the natural world
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: David George Haskell’s fourth book, Sounds Wild and Broken, was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. Haskell will deliver the keynote address at the Clarksville Writers Conference on June 8.
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Tom Hanks delivers a sprawling, genre-bending tale
Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks has penned a stunning debut novel with a mouthful of a title: The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece. Hanks will discuss the book before a sold-out crowd at Montgomery Bell Academy on May 11.
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Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish, writes a heartbreaking (and aptly titled) memoir
Daniel Wallace, best known for magical Southern novels like Big Fish, tackles a difficult truth in his new memoir, This Isn’t Going to End Well. Wallace’s brother-in-law, William Nealy, a popular cartoonist and outdoor writer, committed suicide in 2001, and in seeking to understand that tragedy, Wallace has crafted a sublime mediation on family, art, and friendship. Wallace will appear at the ETSU Spring Literary Festival in Johnson City on April 12-13 and the SouthWord Literary Festival in Chattanooga on April 14-15.
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Clay Risen talks about death, history, and the rebirth of America’s first spirit
Clay Risen’s American Rye presents a comprehensive guide to a uniquely American spirit. As with his previous books on bourbon and scotch, Risen explains the evolution and making of rye whiskey before offering reviews and tasting notes on 225 contemporary expressions of the spirit.
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