“I’ve been taught to write truth in my book since I was old enough to hold a pen. Our books are our sole identity after the Forgetting, the string that connects us to who we were before,” explains the teenage hero of Sharon Cameron’s newest YA fantasy, The Forgetting. Cameron will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 8, 2016, and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.
With Another Brooklyn, celebrated children’s author Jacqueline Woodson has written her first novel for adult readers in twenty years—the coming-of-age story of four Brooklyn girls determined not to be defined by their family’s tragedies. Woodson will speak at the Nashville Public Library on September 7, 2016, and at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on September 8. Both events are free and open to the public.
Melissa Ginsburg’s debut crime novel, Sunset City, unravels the brutal killing of a porn star while exploring some unexpected side effects of grief. Ginsburg will be at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016. Festival events are free and open to the public.
William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life is James Lee McDonough’s detailed look at a brilliant, multi-faceted soldier who never hesitated to visit the hell of war on his enemies. McDonough will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.
Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, follows the story of two half-sisters born in Ghana in the late-eighteenth century. Effia becomes the “African wife” of a British colonial governor, while Esi is captured by a rival tribe and sold into slavery. Gyasi will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.
Meredith Russo’s powerful YA novel, If I Was Your Girl, is extraordinary not because of the events it depicts but because of its point of view: that of an emotionally fragile transgender teen struggling to survive the ruthless world of high school. Russo will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16, 2016.
