Q & A | Chapter 16

The Mystery of Creativity

Children’s author Kevin Henkes talks with Chapter 16 about fruit cocktail and the creative process

By Tina LoTufo | September 16, 2013

September 16, 2013 A prolific children’s author and illustrator with more than thirty books to his credit, Kevin Henkes has proven incredibly adept at making the tricky transition between picture books and novels for young readers. His newest chapter book, The Year of Billy Miller, is a sweet and savvy story told from the point of view of a seven-year-old boy. Henkes will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Fatherly Advice

Beloved novelist Clyde Edgerton talks with Chapter 16 about the arts of parenting and writing

By Ed Tarkington | August 29, 2013

August 29, 2013 Since the publication of his first novel, Raney, in 1985, Clyde Edgerton has been among the South’s most admired comic novelists. With Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers, Edgerton turns his dry wit toward the art of fatherhood, with unsurprisingly sidesplitting results. Clyde Edgerton will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Surviving Disaster, Laughing at Death

Novelist Jonathan Tropper talks with Chapter 16 about comedy and catastrophe

By Sean Kinch | August 26, 2013

August 26, 2013 Jonathan Tropper’s six novels address a fundamental question: when life doesn’t turn out as you planned, what do you do next? Despite the catastrophes Tropper’s characters encounter, his books are fun, knee-slapping, tear-inducing comedies that provide a guide for surviving calamity and discovering what lies on the other side. Tropper talks with Chapter 16 prior to his appearance at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Connecting the Bones

Jon Jefferson and Bill Bass talk about the Body Farm, murder mysteries, and how human bodies turn into soap

By Chris Scott | August 8, 2013

August 8, 2013 The Body Farm, a two-acre plot of land in Knoxville, was founded by University of Tennessee anthropologist Bill Bass over a quarter century ago. It is now renowned as the hub of some of the most important forensic science ever done. Since 2003, Bass and writer Jon Jefferson have collaborated on two nonfiction books about Bass’s work, as well as a series of mystery novels featuring Bass’s alter-ego, Bill Brockton, which they write under the pseudonym Jefferson Bass. Jon Jefferson and Bill Bass will discuss the newest Body Farm novel at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Color Her Happy

Jessica Young’s debut picture book considers our emotional responses to color

By Tina LoTufo | August 7, 2013

August 7, 2013 Art teacher and Nashville resident Jessica Young’s debut picture book for children encourages young readers to look at familiar colors in a new way, urging them to define the world around them according to their own experience. Young will discuss My Blue is Happy at Parnassus Books on August 13, 2013, at 6:30 p.m., and at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. Both events are free and open to the public.

Death Becomes Him

In The Faithful Executioner, Joel Harrington examines the meaning of justice, honor, and the law in Reformation-era Europe

By Tim Boyd | July 31, 2013

July 31, 2013 During the late sixteenth century, the city of Nuremberg was a bustling commercial metropolis at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. As one of the first cities to convert to Lutheranism in the 1520s, it was also on the front lines of the Reformation. In The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century, Vanderbilt historian Joel Harrington considers this world as it is revealed in the extensive diary of Frantz Schmidt, the city’s public executioner for more than forty years. Harrington will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

By Tore C. Olsson
St. Martin's Press
288 pages
$30

“I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness — from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching — that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting.”

~Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning