A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Q & A

The Book Lady of Sevier County

By Susannah Felts

November 18, 2010 Dolly Parton is almost universally adored, not just for her songs but for her sunny, shiny, sweeter-than-sweet-tea persona, her gusto, and her wit. It’s virtually impossible to name another member of Music City royalty who can claim a following of such diversity. But even Parton’s biggest fans may be unaware of her less flashy role as “The Book Lady.” To children, she’s a nearly magical figure who leaves books in the mailboxes of boys and girls everywhere. In more realistic terms, she’s the founder of the Imagination Library, a rapidly growing program which sends free books to kids. She recently spoke with Chapter 16 about the program and about the childhood that inspired it.

The Book Lady of Sevier County

Writing the World

By Charlotte Pence

November 16, 2010 Poet Kate Daniels recently published her much anticipated fourth collection, A Walk in Victoria’s Secret. A professor in Vanderbilt’s creative-writing program, Daniels has received numerous honors, including the 2011 Hanes Award for Poetry, which has been given by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She recently answered questions about her work via email prior to her reading on November 17 in Nashville at Vanderbilt’s Buttrick Hall, room 102, at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public.

Writing the World

Screwball Bestiary

By Margaret Renkl

November 12, 2010 Sedaris’s trademark brand of humor is marked by equal doses of caustic wit and the sweet wistfulness of the true romantic. Sedaris never misses a chance to point out the absolute idiocy of human beings—including, invariably hilariously, his own mistakes and misadventures—but it’s impossible to read his essays and stories without concluding that he secretly enjoys the parade of human foolishness he’s treated to every day. He recently spoke with Chapter 16 prior to his signing of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on November 13 at 3 p.m.

Screwball Bestiary

Still Proud to Be a Coal Miner's Daughter

By Margaret Renkl

November 4, 2010 Loretta Lynn was born in a coal-mining community so far from the rhinestones of Nashville there wasn’t so much as a dirt road for getting down the mountain. People entered Butcher Holler, Kentucky, by way of a footpath, and they almost never left. Loretta did, of course, and fifty years after cutting her first single, she has piled up an Appalachian mountain’s worth of milestones and honors. She recently spoke with Chapter 16 about the re-release of her bestselling memoir, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and about a new tribute CD due to hit stores next week.

Still Proud to Be a Coal Miner's Daughter

Building Stories

By Joe Nolan

November 1, 2010 It’s no mistake that the word history holds the word “story” within it. A new kind of history recorded by a pair of accomplished Middle Tennesseans— Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Robin Hood and James A. Crutchfield, author of fifty books—isn’t a dreary textbook full of forgettable facts, and it doesn’t feature the ponderous tones of an overbearing expert guiding you through predictable, well-worn paths of the Volunteer State’s bygone days. The pair recently spoke with Chapter 16 about their new book, Historic Nashville, which benefits the Tennessee Preservation Trust.

Building Stories

Prizewinner

By Margaret Renkl

October 28, 2010 It was clear from the beginning that Lydia Peelle’s debut story collection, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing, was something special. Though small—it contained only eight stories—and published in paperback, it immediately caught the eye of critics. (The The New York Times Book Review compared Peelle to “masters of the unsettling short story like Mary Gaitskill, or even Alice Munro.”) Peelle has won two Pushcart Prizes and an O. Henry Award; twice she has been included in Best New American Voices. No wonder, then, that the National Book Foundation named her to its 2009 list of the best “5 Under 35” writers, or that in March she was short-listed for the PEN/Hemingway award. And last night, the Nashville resident and former Bredesen speechwriter won her biggest prize to date: a coveted Whiting Writers’ Award, which carries a stipend of $50,000. She took a few minutes to answer questions from Chapter 16 about the prize.

Prizewinner

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