With William Gay, there was a real sense that he had survived this life by the skin of his teeth
February 29, 2012 It all began with a Christmas gift of Provinces of Night from my neighbors, Diana and Gary Fisketjon. I’m not sure which of them told me it was an important book, but coming from either of them it was high praise. Whatever I was already reading that Christmas, I soon put it aside as I began to lose myself in William Gay’s powerful novel.
Read moreFor Tina LoTufo, a trip to the bookshelf is a way of rereading her own love story
February 14, 2012 I am the lone reader in a house full of philistines. My youngest child will still pick up the occasional book, but at sixteen she has so many other interests that each year reading seems to fall lower down her list of priorities. Not me. I don’t have a list of priorities. There is only reading.
Read moreHow a Chapter 16 writer’s great-grandmother befriended—and betrayed—J.D. Salinger
December 8, 2011 Who owns the story of a friendship? A Chapter 16 writer considers her great-grandmother’s decision to sell the letters J.D. Salinger had written during their twenty years of friendship—and the great, reclusive writer’s final letter in response.
Read moreOn this Indonesian slum tour, an American novelist discovers more than he expected
December 1, 2011 The pigeon races are going to be a scene in the novel I’ve come to Jakarta to research. Thematic resonance is what I’ve told Ronny. It took me half an hour to explain. His English isn’t perfect, but I don’t think that was really the problem. It was more that he just didn’t see the point.
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A poet considers the way a family shapes the soul—in both good and terribly bad ways
September 7, 2011 George Scarbrough (1915-2008) was born the third of seven children in in a clapboard cabin in Patty, a small community in Polk County, Tennessee. Strongly influenced by his literate mother, he was an avid reader from his earliest years and studied at Lincoln Memorial University, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and the University of the South in Sewanee. As farmer, librarian, and teacher he lived his entire life in East Tennessee, for many years in Oak Ridge. His poetry was published widely in magazines and journals, and he is the author of five books of poems and one novel, all of which established his position as a major figure in American literature. This essay was first published in Touchstone, a publication of Humanities Tennessee, in 1986. Under the Lemon Tree, a new collection of previously unpublished poems by George Scarbrough, will appear this fall from Iris Press. Robert Cumming, the editor of the collection, will discuss George Scarbrough and his work at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.
Read moreA Chapter 16 writer reflects on her stay at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference
August 23, 2011 Maria Browning was happy to be accepted to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, even though she wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to go. She had to get there to find out.
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