Q & A | Chapter 16

The Hunger in Our Souls

Award-winning children’s author Bill Myers talks with Chapter 16 about what’s popular with YA readers today and laments the darkness he finds there

By Tina LoTufo | April 26, 2012

April 26, 2012 Speculative fiction is an umbrella term that includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other highly imaginative genres, often incorporating a supernatural bent. Christian writer Bill Myers is a bestselling, award-winning, and highly prolific author of such stories for young adults. Along with Heather Burch, author of Halflings, and Jill Williamson, author of Replication: The Jason Experiment, Myers will make three stops in Middle Tennessee next week: on April 27, he will appear at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood at 6 p.m.; on April 28, they will be at Lifeway Christian Store in Murfreesboro at noon, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 4 p.m. These events, designed especially for teen readers, will include interaction with the authors, scavenger hunts, and the chance to win a Nook or Kindle e-reader.

Roar Trip

Delia Ephron’s new novel includes a very screen-ready lion; Ephron tells Chapter 16 why she put him in a novel instead of a movie

By Susannah Felts | April 18, 2012

April 18, 2012 Seeing the name Ephron attached to a book, movie, or theatrical production is a pretty safe bet that said entertainment product will bring the funny; after all, sisters Delia and Nora Ephron are two of the reigning American comedy writers, both independently and as a duo. This spring, Delia Ephron’s latest novel, The Lion Is In, is sure to make critics’ summer-reading recommendations for witty, tender-hearted beach reads. Ephron will appear at the Regal Green Hills Cinemas on April 24 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Nashville Film Festival.

Twenty Million and Counting

Karen Kingsbury talks with Chapter 16 about Loving, the concluding novel in her wildly popular Bailey Flanigan series

By Tina LoTufo | March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012 Nashville novelist Karen Kingsbury has more than twenty million books in print and boasts a quarter of a million Facebook fans who look forward to the latest installment in her series fiction, stand-alone titles, and children’s books. Kingsbury’s newest offering, Loving, is the fourth and final book in the Bailey Flanigan series. She recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email.

The Weird Sister

Jake Bohstedt Morrill’s epistolary fable probes the darker side of sibling rivalry

By Fernanda Moore | March 29, 2012

March 29, 2012 Jake Bohstedt Morrill, a Unitarian minister in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Harvard Divinity School. His debut novel, Randy Bradley—a tiny hardcover volume very reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s Nutshell Library—is an off-kilter narrative constructed around a massive, mysterious squabble between two sisters. Morrill recently spoke with Chapter 16 about literature, postmodernism, and why he’s drawn to aggrieved characters.

A Drifter’s Story

Chapter 16 talks with biographer Diane Diekman about the great Marty Robbins

By Paul McCoy | March 26, 2012

March 26, 2012 When he was a young singer, they called him “the boy with the teardrop in his voice.” Two decades later, as the Grand Ole Opry moved from the Ryman to its new home at Opryland, Marty Robbins was the last artist on the old stage and the first to perform on the new. In her latest biography, Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins, Diane Diekman provides a remarkably detailed narrative account of one of country music’s most beloved figures. Diekman will discuss and sign her book at 12:30 p.m. on March 31 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. She answered questions from Chapter 16 via email in advance of her appearance.

Getting a Good Look at the Summit

Novelist Tony Earley talks with Chapter 16 about fatherhood, Southern identity, the need for literary gatekeepers, and why he thinks J.K. Rowling could take Kim Kardashian in a fight

By Margaret Renkl | March 22, 2012

March 22, 2012 If critics have anything to say about it, Tony Earley’s work will last. In 1996, on the strength of one story collection—Here We Are in Paradise (Little, Brown, 1994)—and zero novels, Earley found himself on Granta’s list of “20 Best Young American Novelists.” In 1999, The New Yorker named him to its inaugural list of the best young writers in the country. Whenever he publishes a book, it invariably lands on the best-of-the-year lists, and nearly two decades after he published his first book, all four of his titles remain in print. Tony Earley will give a reading at Christian Brothers University in Memphis on March 22 at 7 p.m. in Spain Auditorium. He answered questions from Chapter 16 by email prior to the event.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher