Q & A

July 30, 2014 When she faced the prospect of sending both of her sons into war zones—one to Iraq, the other to Afghanistan—River Jordan conceived of a unique way to calm her fears: every night she would say a prayer for someone she didn’t know. Along the way, her project became an Internet phenomenon. Jordan will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

July 22, 2014 Robert Gordon’s Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion is a propulsive page-turner about a white fiddler and bank employee named Jim Stewart and his sister, Estelle Axton, who built the Stax Record label in the Soulsville neighborhood of Memphis. Robert Gordon will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

June 24, 2014 Nancy Vienneau seeks to elevate the humble potluck supper beyond images of folding chairs and jello molds. Her Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook: Recipes and Stories to Celebrate the Bounty of the Moment features the best of the Third Thursday Community Potluck, a near-legendary Nashville group that revels in creative, seasonal, and fresh menu items. Vienneau will discuss and sign Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 25, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

June 10, 2014 By his death in 1990, Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the world’s most recognizable personalities. Show business was the only life he knew, and he worked extremely hard at it. During his sixties, throat cancer finally slowed Davis down, and he was able to spend time with his daughter, Tracey. Along with personal and historic photographs, these intimate discussions make up the bulk of Sammy Davis Jr.: A Personal Journey with My Father, Tracey Davis’s new memoir. Tracey Davis will discuss the book at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on June 16, 2014, at 7 p.m.