Q & A | Chapter 16

Redemption is Always an Option

By Melinda Baker

August 28, 2012

August 28, 2012 When the protagonists in Adam Ross’s story collection, Ladies and Gentlemen, aren’t deliberately malicious, they’re often unintentionally cruel, the result of being unable to think beyond their own desires. What about Ross himself? In lieu of a standard Q&A, we recently sent him some half-finished sentences to complete. He reveals something about his writing habits, his love of early-90s hip hop, his penchant for cooking, and his plans to take his fiction into uncharted territory. Ross will discuss Ladies and Gentlemen at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 6 at 6:30 p.m., and at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

What the World Could Be

By Beth Waltemath

August 10, 2012

August 10, 2012 In her first book, Magdalene House: A Place about Mercy Sarah VanHooser Suiter, writes about the “winding journey of healing and recovery” as she researched a residential community in Nashville for women with histories of addiction and prostitution. The women of Magdalene House envision “the world that could be,” Suiter writes: “a place where people love without judgment, care for their neighbors, support one another regardless of circumstance, and defend human dignity.” Sarah VanHooser Suiter will discuss Magdalene House at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

Drop Dead Funny

By Fernanda Moore

August 9, 2012

August 9, 2012 A.J. Jacobs is “okay looking ridiculous as long as there’s a chance it will lead to something interesting or insightful.” In fact he’s the kind of writer for whom virtually every experience leads to something interesting—and very, very funny. Jacobs is the author of The Know-It-All, for which he read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Year of Living Biblically, in which he spent a year living by the literal prohibitions of the Bible, including stoning adulterers (with pebbles). His newest book is Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, which he will discuss at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. In advance of his visit, he took Chapter 16’s Fernanda Moore to a Manhattan health-food restaurant for lunch.

A Bottomless Well of Inspiration

By Clay Risen

August 8, 2012

In his book 1861: The Civil War Awakening, historian and journalist Adam Goodheart presents what he calls a “pointillist” picture of a country on the brink of self-destruction. Through a series of profiles and stories, Goodheart demonstrates how America was both gearing up for an epic conflict and coming to grips with the horror that lay before it—and all the while slowly realizing that whatever happened, it would change the nation forever. He spoke with Chapter 16 by phone prior to his forthcoming appearance at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville.

Faithful Humanist

By Maria Browning

July 25, 2012

July 25, 2012 Poet Mark Jarman rose to prominence in the 1980s as an advocate of New Formalism and narrative poetry. He has since become known as one of the few academic poets of his generation to struggle explicitly in his work with questions of faith. In advance of the publication of his latest collection, Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems, he talks with Chapter 16 about his work, the flawed genius of Robinson Jeffers, and why the digital revolution is good for poetry. Jarman will read from Bone Fires at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

The Weight of Blood and History

By Madison Smartt Bell

July 24, 2012

July 30, 2012 Nashville native Madison Smartt Bell is the author of thirteen novels and two short story collections, though he is perhaps best known for a highly acclaimed trio of novels on the Haitian revolution: All Souls Rising (a National Book Award finalist), Master of the Crossroads, and The Stone That the Builder Refused. Today he talks with debut Knoxville novelist, Christopher Hebert, whose new novel is set in an unnamed Caribbean country that bears a striking resemblance to Haiti. “One feels the weight of the tropical air in reading this book,” Bell writes, “and the weight of blood and history behind it.” Madison Smartt Bell and Christopher Hebert will appear at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.