A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

A Bold Second Outing

March 31, 2014 When Amy Greene saw the cover design for Long Man, her new novel, her first thought was “My publisher takes me seriously as a writer.” And it’s true: this novel, unlike Bloodroot Greene’s critically acclaimed and New York Times-bestselling first novel, is not illustrated with a delicate watercolor image of a beautiful woman in a romantic dress. It’s illustrated with bold lines, block colors, imposing type—a designer’s signifier of literary heft and consequence.

Hollywood Bound

March 28, 2014 Coming soon to a theater near you: Ruta Sepetys’s bestselling (and acclaimed) YA novel, Between Shades of Gray and R.A. Dickey’s bestselling (and acclaimed) baseball memoir, Wherever I Wind Up.

Identity Issues

March 14, 2014 Changers, the first in a fantasy series of YA novels by East Tennessee husband-and-wife team T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper, is singled out by the literary paper of record for its unusual appeal to teens struggling with identity issues—as what teen is not?

Making Flesh and Bone of the Man in the Woods

March 13, 2014 Crossville native—and sometime Chapter 16 contributor—Michael Sims has had an enviably diverse career, following his own interests to subjects that include science, children’s authors, Victorian detective stories, and now Henry David Thoreau. Sims’ portrait of Thoreau reveals a young man fully engaged with the world, quirky and playful, and nothing like the hermit history has constructed.

Something New Inside

February 20, 2014 Novelist Tova Mirvis grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Memphis. As expected, she became engaged at twenty-two to an Orthodox Jewish man she met on a blind date. As expected, she followed the laws and expectations of her community, even as she wondered, “Is this all true?”

From Libya to the Academy of American Poets—By Way of Tennessee

January 17, 2014 Poet and translator Khlaled Mattawa left Libya when when he was fourteen, the year after Muammar Gaddafi’s forces began hanging “traitors” in the public square of Benghazi, Mattawa’s home city. Mattawa settled in Chattanooga, where he later graduated from UTC before going on to study creative writing at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In the years since, his commitment to both his homeland and to poetry has not waned.

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