March 8, 2011 When Troy Chance sees a small child being thrown from a ferry into Lake Champlain, she immediately dives into the water to rescue him. The search for his family—and, later, for his kidnappers—sets off the whirlwind plot of Oak Ridge native Sara J. Henry’s debut novel, Learning to Swim. Henry will read from and sign copies of the book at 7 p.m. on March 10 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood.
March 2, 2011 Howard Frank Mosher spent seven years researching and writing Walking to Gatlinburg, his tenth novel, set during the Civil War. The plot of the book follows seventeen-year-old Morgan Kinneson on a journey to find his brother, a missing Union doctor. Kinneson is indeed walking to Gatlinburg, and the sometimes cruel, sometimes funny, and always fascinating people and situations he encounters along the way change him profoundly. Mosher answered questions from Chapter 16 via email just as the book was being released in paperback.
March 1, 2011 Holly Tucker will discuss and sign copies of Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution on March 2 at 11:30 a.m. in the main Nashville Public Library. The event is part of the Thinking Out of the (Lunch) Box series, a joint venture of Vanderbilt University and the Nashville Public Library. At 11:30 a.m., lunch is served. At noon, the program begins. The event is free and open to the public.
February 24, 2011 Ree Drummond’s new book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story, is both a memoir and the backstory to The Pioneer Woman, one of the most popular blogs on the web. Today Drummond talks with Chapter 16 about the book, which Columbia Pictures is developing as a star vehicle for Nashville native Reese Witherspoon.
February 23, 2011 Literary titan Joyce Carol Oates is known for the extraordinary virtuosity and prolificacy of her work. In A Widow’s Story: A Memoir, she tells the story of her struggle to cope with the death of her husband of nearly fifty years. Today she answers questions from Chapter 16 about A Widow’s Story and her work as both a writer and a teacher. Oates will give a reading at Austin Peay State University on February 25 at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
February 22, 2011 Like Bobbie Ann Mason before her, Holly Goddard Jones entered the literary scene with a much-praised debut collection of stories set in her home state. Jones is no Mason redux, but in Girl Trouble she does look carefully at the Kentucky in which she was raised, tapping into veins similar to those explored by Mason. Set in the fictional small town of Roma, these stories portray with deep sensitivity the emotional injuries of men and women whose lives are etched there. On February 24 at 7 p.m., Holly Goddard Jones will read from her work in Buttrick Hall, Room 102, on the Vanderbilt University campus.
