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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
July 24, 2013 Andrew Hudgins is a distinguished poet and scholar, and he’s also a lifelong, inveterate teller of jokes. In his memoir, The Joker, he tells the story of his life through the jokes that marked its passages. Today he talks with Chapter 16 about what makes a great joke and why we need to look at the ugly side of humor. Hudgins will appear on July 27, 2013, at 4:15 p.m. at the Bairnwick Women’s Center on the campus of The University of the South in Sewanee. The event, part of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, is free and open to the public.
