April 14, 2014 Just as Jim and Franny Post prepare to embark on a two-week jaunt to Mallorca—a final family trip before their youngest child leaves for college—their perfect life falls apart. Emma Straub will discuss The Vacationers on April 17, 2014, at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 102, on the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.
April 14, 2014 With their third cookbook, Memphis restaurateurs and Food Network celebrities Pat and Gina Neely offer a charming celebration of handed-down traditions, memories preserved through meals. The Neelys will discuss Back Home with the Neelys at the Nashville Public Library on April 17, 2014, at 6:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
April 10, 2014 John Sevier was widely recognized as a hero during his own time. Later writers and historical societies frequently revisited his legend, producing literature and monuments that reflected their own historical context. In John Sevier, Tennessee’s First Hero, Gordon T. Belt and Traci Nichols-Belt dig into those books, pamphlets, speeches, sermons, editorials, and letters to see how Sevier’s reputation has evolved over the years. The Belts will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on April 13, 2014, at 2 p.m.
April 9, 2014 Two gay men near Asheville, North Carolina, are brutally murdered, possibly in connection with a backwater preacher’s shocking anti-gay bombast on YouTube, and North Carolina Governor Ann Chandler is worried. Clearly, this is a case for special prosecutor Mary Crow. Sallie Bissell will discuss Deadliest of Sins, her sixth Mary Crow mystery, on April 12, 2014, at Mysteries & More in Nashville at 2 p.m.
April 8, 2014 With MaddAddam, the final book in Margaret Atwood’s trilogy about a bioengineered apocalypse, the story takes a turn toward the comic, transforming a dystopian vision into a darkly funny fairy tale for grown-ups. Atwood will discuss MaddAddam at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville on April 11, 2014, at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
April 2, 2014 Robin Layton’s new book of photography, hoop: the american dream, captures the romance of basketball through images of lone baskets around the country. Ranging from urban playgrounds to suburban parks to backboards nailed to the sides of Iowa barns, Layton’s subjects are as various as the people who play the game. Robin Layton will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 4 at 6:30 p.m.
