Wright Thompson’s latest book, The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi, revisits what is often considered the most galvanizing event of the civil rights era: the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in rural Sunflower County, Mississippi. Thompson will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on October 3 and Barnes & Noble in Brentwood on October 4.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Focused on the brutal killing of a Mississippi socialite, Beverly Lowry’s Deer Creek Drive revisits an event that grabbed national headlines, left lingering questions, and is still met with silence in the Delta town of Leland. Lowry will appear at SouthWord Literary Festival in Chattanooga on April 14-15.
In Richard Bausch’s latest novel, Playhouse, a Memphis theater company stages a performance of King Lear to celebrate a high-profile relaunch. As rehearsals begin, celebrities sign on, and the characters struggle to find harmony, let alone pull off the play.
Ed Tarkington’s The Fortunate Ones is a story of love and social status in the New South, where “good people can end up going to dark places when the stakes get high and they come to believe that the ends justify the means.” Tarkington will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books on October 10.
Mark Barr’s debut novel, Watershed, considers the early TVA era from the ground up, focusing on character and place, and the intimate stories of lives impacted by the agency. Barr will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13; at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on October 14; and at Novel in Memphis on October 21.
