Wally Lamb’s fifth novel, We Are Water, is a testament to the fact that families can survive almost anything thrown at them—murder, abuse, abandonment—if love remains. Lamb will appear in conversation with songwriter Mary Gautier on March 11 at Green Door Gourmet in Nashville in a benefit event for the Porch Writers’ Collective.
In Gizelle’s Bucket List, the touching story of an unlikely duo who tackle life together, Lauren Fern Watt remembers the six magical years she shared with a giant English mastiff. Watt will discuss her debut memoir at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 11 at 2 p.m.
In Little Failure, Gary Shteyngart turns his sharp satirical skills on his own history as a Russian Jewish immigrant coming of age in 1980s New York, and on the long and painful history of his family. Shteyngart will discuss Little Failure at the First Amendment Center on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville on March 2.
Along with Jerry Brotton, Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro will discuss “Jews and Muslims in Shakespeare’s World” in Hardie Auditorium on the Rhodes College campus in Memphis on February 22 at 6 p.m. The event, part of the Communities in Conversation series, is free and open to the public.
In The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam, Jerry Brotton examines the way Elizabethan England managed to circumvent Catholic Europe to open trade relations with Islamic empires. Brotton will appear at Rhodes College in Memphis to discuss “Jews and Muslims in Shakespeare’s World” with James Shapiro in Hardie Auditorium on February 22 at 6 p.m. The event, part of the Communities in Conversation series, is free and open to the public.
Andrew Maraniss spent eight years researching and writing Strong Inside, the story of Vanderbilt basketball player Perry Wallace, who broke the color barrier in SEC athletics. Now Maraniss has produced a version of the story for readers in middle and high school. He will launch the new edition at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 9 at 6:30 p.m.
