A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Poor, Broken World

By Michael Ray Taylor

James Wade’s Narrow the Road, set in the Shawnee Prairie of East Texas in 1932, follows the odyssey of William Carter, a 15-year-old left in charge of a failing farm and a dying mother. The boy’s quest through a damaged land to retrieve his absent father carries echoes of John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy, and even Ray Bradbury — yet it is wholly original and breathtaking. And there’s a gorilla. Wade will speak at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 18–19.

An Enlightened Message

By Michael Ray Taylor

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. Dean will appear at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 18-19.

Natural City

By Michael Ray Taylor

In Nashville Native Orchids, Soraya Cates Parr has written a fascinating first book that is part natural science, part field guide, and part cultural heritage. Native orchids turn out to be a key to unlocking hidden nature throughout the city. Soraya Cates Parr will discuss the book at Warner Park Nature Center in Nashville on February 22.

Coal Catastrophe

By Michael Ray Taylor

In his first book, Valley so Low, Jared Sullivan, a journalist who has written for The New Yorker, Time, and The Bitter Southerner, tells the story of a decade-long legal battle for Tennessee workers sickened and killed by the coal sludge from the 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant disaster. Sullivan will appear at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin on October 15; Williamson County Public Library in Franklin on October 16; East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on October 17; ArtsBuild in Chattanooga on October 23; and the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Coal Catastrophe

Memphis Noir

By Michael Ray Taylor

Ace Atkins, known for his Quinn Colson novels, has crafted a classic detective tale in Don’t Let the Devil Ride, an international thriller solidly anchored in Memphis. Atkins will appear at Novel in Memphis on June 26 and in an online discussion with Chapter 16’s Michael Ray Taylor on July 16.

Memphis Noir

Fletch Inhaled Twice

By Michael Ray Taylor

Gregory Mcdonald’s 1974 novel Fletch created the modern comic mystery, influencing a generation of writers who followed. In addition to nine Fletch books, Mcdonald created such series characters as Flynn, Skylar, and Son of Fletch, writing many of those from his home near Pulaski, Tennessee.

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