Q & A | Chapter 16

Writing About Home By Leaving It

By Courtney M. Santo

February 19, 2013

February 19, 2013 Wiley Cash’s debut novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, explores the aftermath of a tragedy: the death of an autistic boy at an evangelical healing service. Cash has said that the book’s lush Southern setting is a direct result of the longing he felt for home when he was living away from it. Wiley Cash will have two public events in Tennessee: on February 21 at 6 p.m. at The Booksellers and Laurelwood in Memphis, he will discuss A Land More Kind Than Home in a live interview with Courtney Miller Santo, author of The Roots of the Olive Tree. On April 20 at 1 p.m., he will give a reading at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville. Both events are free and open to the public.

Matter of Heart

By Sarah Norris

February 11, 2013

February 11, 2013 David Huddle, author of seven story collections, three novels, seven volumes of poetry, and a book of advice for writers, holds the 2012-13 Roy Acuff Chair of Excellence at Austin Peay State University. Now seventy-one, he recently answered questions from Chapter 16 about a lifetime spent writing “narratives” in a variety of forms, how teaching has improved his own work, and why Philip Roth will probably write another novel. On February 12 at 7:30 p.m., Huddle will read from his 2011 novel, Nothing Can Make Me Do This, in Room 303 of the Morgan University Center at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. The event is free and open to the public.

If He Makes It Through December

By Stephen Usery

February 1, 2013

February 1, 2013 Chapter 16 is delighted to announce that Stephen Usery is joining the site as a regular podcast contributor. Usery is the legendary host of WYPL’s, Book Talk”, an author-interview program sponsored by the Memphis Public Library, and Mysterypod, his own weekly podcast featuring interviews with authors of mysteries, thrillers, and crime fiction. In today’s podcast, Usery talks with George Saunders about his new book, Tenth of December, which The New York Times called “the best book you’ll read this year.”

Entertainment First

By Tina LoTufo

January 24, 2013

January 24, 2013 Coke and Pepsi McDonald never planned on a life filled with danger and adventure, but after the thirteen-year-old twins are invited to join the Genius Files—a group with a mission to solve the world’s problems—they find themselves dodging murderous villains and outsmarting zany attempts on their lives. Unfortunately for them (but luckily for their fans), a cross-country trip with their parents isn’t going to save them. In You Only Die Twice (The Genius Files #3) by bestselling author Dan Gutman, Coke and Pepsi’s journey home begins, and the action and suspense are exceeded only by the number of nutty roadside attractions their parents make them visit. Gutman will discuss You Only Die Twice on January 29 at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood.

Fugitive Truth

By Emily Choate

January 23, 2013

January 23, 2013 The Oxford American’s new editor-in-chief, Roger D. Hodge, talks with Chapter 16 about his view of editing as a “conversational” process. The point of the conversation, he says, is to serve the stories themselves: “When everything comes together in just the right way, so that the stories are winking and glancing across the issue at one another, something magical happens. You have a self-contained whole, a world within the world.”

Everything You Know about Pit Bulls is Wrong

By Lyda Phillips

January 17, 2013

January 17, 2012 Ken Foster—photographer, writer, reader, and dog lover—is on a mission to reverse the bad rap on pit bulls. I’m a Good Dog: Pit Bulls, America’s Most Beautiful (and Misunderstood) Pet is his homage to the dog made famous by both Petey of The Little Rascals and the tortured animals rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring. Foster will discuss the book at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 24 at 6 p.m., and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 26 at 2 p.m.