In her new YA novel, I Was Here, Gayle Forman explores the questions surrounding a teen suicide
January 27, 2015 In I Was Here, bestselling author Gayle Forman has created a powerful story about an eighteen-year-old girl’s search for the reasons behind her best friend’s suicide. Forman will be joined by fellow young-adult authors Ruta Sepetys, David Arnold, and Courtney Stevens at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 30, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
Beth Bachmann’s latest poetry collection explores the ramifications of war
January 26, 2015 In her new collection, Do Not Rise, Nashville poet Beth Bachmann writes about war and its aftermath with unflinching insight. Bachmann will read from her work on January 29, 2015, at 7 p. m. on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville. The event, which also includes a reading by Vanderbilt novelist Tony Earley, is free and open to the public.
A unique writers’ group in Memphis has produced a book of first-hand accounts of homelessness
January 23, 2015 The Door of Hope Writing Group in Memphis is a weekly meet-up for homeless writers. The nonprofit’s new project, Writing Our Way Home: A Group Journey Out of Homelessness, chronicles both the hard times and big breakthroughs of writers living on the street.
Edward B. McCaul Jr. examines the Civil War struggle for control of the Mississippi River
January 22, 2015 To Retain Command of the Mississippi is Edward McCaul’s thorough look at everything—strategy, politics, personnel, boats, technology, and battles—connected with the campaign to establish control of the Mississippi during the first two years of the Civil War. McCaul argues that the river battle at Memphis could have gone the other way, with consequences that might have led to Confederate independence.
Sharon M. Draper crafts a tale of community, family, and courage in the Jim Crow South
January 15, 2015 Eleven-year-old Stella Mills has always felt safe in the embrace of her family and community. But Stella feels helpless during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan—until she finds a way to help. Sharon Draper, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, will discuss her new middle-grade novel, Stella by Starlight, at the Nashville Public Library on January 22, 2015, at 6 p.m. and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 23, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
In The Secret of Magic, Deborah Johnson tackles the difficult truths of segregation-era Mississippi
January 13, 2015 Regina Mary Robichard, the determined young NAACP lawyer at the center of Deborah Johnson’s The Secret of Magic, finds herself deeply drawn to the case of a brutal murder in segregation-era Mississippi. Investigating, she enters a world of both racial conflict and magical surprise. Deborah Johnson will discuss The Secret of Magic at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 17, 2015, at 2 p.m.
