A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Making Our Country a Little More Human

selma_march_webOn November 16, John Lewis—along with his collaborators, co-author Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell—won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature with March: Book Three. But even before he accepted that honor, Lewis had already been named the 2016 recipient of the Nashville Public Library Literary Award, a prize that last week brought him back to Nashville, where he first began his long career as a civil-rights activist. Today Lewis talks with Chapter 16 about his books—and his unparalleled life in public service.

Making Our Country a Little More Human

Invisible Woman

eyeonthestruggle-hc-cAs a reporter and advocate for racial justice, Ethel Payne shaped American society. James McGrath Morris’s biography of her, Eye on the Struggle, is the winner of the 2015 National Book Award from the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change. Morris will speak about the book at 6 p.m. on November 15 at the University of Memphis.

Invisible Woman

Long Live the King

doug-the-pug-final-coverDoug the Pug and his “momager,” Leslie Mosier, will be signing their new book, Doug the Pug: The King of Pop Culture, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 12 at 2 p.m. Prior to the event, Mosier answered a few questions from Chapter 16 about the dog at the center of a social-media empire.

Long Live the King

On Freedom and Love and Changing the World

bakewell_attheexistentialistcafe_finalHeidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus—in her enchanting group biography, At the Existentialist Café, Sarah Bakewell shines a light on these great existential writers and the world they made. Bakewell will discuss the book on November 9 at Rhodes College in Memphis.

On Freedom and Love and Changing the World

Where the Characters Quicken to Life

remember“Family life seems given to a kind of emotional suspense, which in no way feels less tense or compelling than other kinds of suspense.” Prior to his November 7 reading at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Bret Anthony Johnston talks about creativity, collusion with imaginary characters, and his acclaimed novel, Remember Me Like This.

Where the Characters Quicken to Life

A World Apart

Bren Owen has an unusual gift: he can create exact reproductions of maps from memory. Bren’s creator, Memphis-based author Barry Wolverton, has a similar gift for creating worlds, though he didn’t come to recognize his own talent until much later. Wolverton will read from The Dragon’s Gate at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on November 3 at 6:30 p.m.

A World Apart

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