A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Web of Lies

With Gone Before Goodbye, Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben combine forces to introduce readers to Maggie McCabe, a world-class reconstructive surgeon who finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue and lies. The authors will discuss the book at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville on October 29, with Ann Patchett moderating.

Telling Old Stories in New Ways

In his memoir House of Smoke, Southern food writer and cultural commentator John T. Edge turns the spotlight on himself, seeking to understand his personal history and evolution. Edge will appear at The Rosecomb in Chattanooga on September 18, Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on October 16, the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October on 18-19, Novel in Memphis on October 22, and Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 27.

A Certain Way of Living

In her debut novel, Hothouse Bloom, Atlanta native Austyn Wohlers tells the story of a young painter, Anna, who leaves everything behind to care for the orchard she inherits when her estranged grandfather passes away.

A Sense of Place

Carrie R. Moore’s Make Your Way Home is a collection of 11 stories that are deeply researched and deeply rooted in both the American South and the Black experience there. Moore will appear at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 18-19.

A Dazzling Writer of Flawed People

Lorrie Moore’s work has been celebrated since her 1985 debut, the short story collection Self-Help. Her 1994 novel, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, had Nick Hornby naming her “the best American writer of her generation,” and her latest, I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moore will be the featured author for this year’s Writers@Work in Chattanooga, April 22-24.

A Mother’s Whisper

In Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s new novel Happy Land, Black mothers and daughters reconnect with each other and the land that shaped them. Perkins-Valdez will discuss Happy Land at Novel in Memphis on April 11.

TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING