Sven Beckert talks with Chapter 16 about how the history of cotton explains the origin of modern capitalism
September 11, 2014 History is often told through the stories of wars, famines, and presidents, but as Harvard historian Sven Beckert shows in his new book, it can also be told through a simple, everyday crop: cotton. Beckert will discuss Empire of Cotton at Rhodes College in Memphis on September 17, 2015, at 6 p.m.
Children’s author Margo Lanagan talks with Chapter 16 about the pleasure of writing with collaborators
September 9, 2015 Margo Lanagan, Scott Westerfeld, and Deborah Biancotti kick off a new science-fiction series for young adults with Zeroes, the gripping story of a group of teens with unlikely superpowers. All three authors will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015. Today Lanagan speaks with Chapter 16 about this smart, fast-paced YA novel.
Beloved children’s author Dav Pilkey talks with Chapter 16 about Captain Underpants
August 19, 2015 There’s something rotten in the state of Ohio in Captain Underpants and the Sensational Sir Stinks-A-Lot, the twelfth “epic novel” in Dav Pilkey’s popular series of graphic novels for children. Pilkey will appear as part of the Salon@615 series at the Nashville Public Library on August 25, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.
Jessica Young talks with Chapter 16 about her book for young readers—and the four other books she’s bringing out this year, too
July 31, 2015 Jessica Young’s Finley Flowers: Original Recipe is the first in a new series of chapter books about an inventive young girl and her warm circle of friends. This title—the first of five books Young will release this year—tells the story of Finley’s attempts to win the school cook-off. Young will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015. All festival events are free and open to the public.
Chapter 16’s own Ed Tarkington lands a book deal with Algonquin
July 30, 2015 Today Chapter 16 contributing writer Ed Tarkington talks about his forthcoming novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, which he calls a “mash-up of Cain and Abel, the Prodigal Son, The Graduate, and ‘A Rose for Emily,’ set in the small-town Upper South, with a soundtrack by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.” Tarkington will read from the novel at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015. All festival events are free and open to the public.
Alysia Burton Steele’s portraits of long-lived black women in the Mississippi Delta explodes contemporary notions of beauty
July 21, 2015 Alysia Burton Steele’s Delta Jewels is quite obviously part autobiography, part biography, part photography book, and part autograph book. But it is the less obvious parts—Steele’s critique of prevailing beauty aesthetics and her exploration of the intimate lives of long-lived black women—that dazzle. She will discuss the book at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015. All festival events are free and open to the public.
