In her new thriller, Indie Darling, Nashville author Lauren Nossett plumbs a dark side of Music City. Told from the perspective of a badass female private detective investigating the disappearance of a popular singer-songwriter, the story is rife with plot twists, parallel mysteries, and Dolly Parton songs. Nossett will appear at a book launch party at The Sun Room in Nashville on July 27 and at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books on October 17-18.
In Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World, Lucas L. Johnson II sketches the history of Alex Haley’s Roots and its TV adaptation, surveying their impact through commentary from scholars, genealogists, artists, and ordinary people from different walks of life. Johnson will sign and discuss the book at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater in Nashville on June 14.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Dynamite Nashville, Betsy Phillips plunges into the world of white supremacist violence in Nashville during the civil rights era.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In 2022, Brandon Taylor spoke with Chapter 16 about his Southern roots, his Baptist upbringing, how his brief career as a scientist has influenced his writing, and why he has been increasingly drawn to analog technologies in our digitally obsessed world.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Chapter 16 talks with Ada Limón, a poet whose work is grounded in the physical world, delighting in nature and urging readers toward curiosity and wonder.
Chattanooga poet Christian Collier focuses on loss and grieving in his debut collection, Greater Ghost, while still infusing every poem with a pulsing, insistent life. He will be the featured author for Writers@Work 2026 in Chattanooga on April 7-9 and a visiting writer at the Southern Literary Festival at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga on April 11.
