A Rocky Adjustment

May 13, 2013 In this edition of Chapter 16’s podcast series, Stephen Usery talks with Kevin Powers about The Yellow Birds. Powers’s novel—which went on to win the Pen-Hemingway award, the Guardian First Fiction award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction—follows a young soldier through combat in Iraq and his rocky adjustment to life at home and away from the battlefield.

Powers talks about his own experiences as soldier, as well as his fascination with birds and his belief that fiction is the most honest medium. He will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

[This article was updated on August 8, 2014.]