Memphis writer Wayne Dowdy makes another critical contribution to local history with Enslavement in Memphis.
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Lifting the Veil on Slavery
Wayne Dowdy documents the history of enslaved African Americans in Memphis
Q & A
“The Voice Is My Key”
Playwright and poet Dan O’Brien searches for meaning in the chaos of trauma
Dan O’Brien’s A Story That Happens, a collection of essays originally delivered as craft lectures at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, weaves observations on the art of playwriting with deeply personal memoir.
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Slow Violence, Then and Now
Rob Nixon discusses writers, activists, and the challenges of the Global South
In his award-winning book, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, Princeton professor Rob Nixon looks at writer-activists and environmental justice across the Global South. Nixon will give the Naseeb Shaheen Memorial Lecture, hosted online by the University of Memphis on November 18.
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Harm Reduction
Sam Quinones’ The Least of Us makes a compelling case for our survival
In The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, journalist Sam Quinones reveals the new street drugs that are decimating the lives of Americans — and the people who are fighting them in their communities. Quinones will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 5.
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Vilified and Celebrated
Charles Hughes situates hip-hop star Bushwick Bill in the history of race, sex, disability, and national politics
In Why Bushwick Bill Matters, Charles Hughes explains the impact of an iconic hip-hop artist. He roots the story in both his academic training as a historian and his personal experience as person of short stature.
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The Collateral Consequences of Hubris
Ed Tarkington talks about the class conflicts at the heart of his second novel, The Fortunate Ones
Ed Tarkington’s The Fortunate Ones is a story of love and social status in the New South, where “good people can end up going to dark places when the stakes get high and they come to believe that the ends justify the means.” Tarkington will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books on October 10.
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