Editor’s Notes

If you follow Parnassus Books on social media (and who doesn’t?), you’ve probably seen Ann Patchett‘s video announcing her matching campaign in support of Humanities Tennessee. She’s urging her followers to donate $20 — the price of a paperback book — to save HT’s many programs, including Chapter 16 and the Southern Festival of Books. She’ll be personally matching those gifts up to $10,000. The link…

Our friends at The Porch, Nashville’s nonprofit writing center, are having a fundraiser on May 9 to benefit Humanities Tennessee during the current funding crisis. Yurina Yoshikawa will lead a generative writing workshop followed by an open mic reading with the theme “Tennessee, in Your Own Words.” See all the details here. (And don’t forget The Porch’s own annual fundraiser on May 2, which will…

The funding crisis continues for state humanities councils, including Humanities Tennessee. Serenity Gerbman, HT’s director of literature and language programs, shared a letter last week explaining the gravity of the situation and what’s at stake. She writes, “What I can tell you is that, if this period of federal funding uncertainty persists, Humanities Tennessee will cease to exist within a…

As many of you know, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) recently targeted the National Endowment for the Humanities, and their drastic cuts to the agency include rescinding existing grants to all the state humanities councils, including Humanities Tennessee. This funding is essential to Humanities Tennessee’s many programs, including the Southern Festival of Books, the Young Writers’ Workshops, and Chapter 16. We’re asking…

Today at Chapter 16, Sara Beth West reviews Happy Land, the latest novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, inspired by the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a real 19th-century community founded by formerly enslaved people on the border of North and South Carolina. Perkins-Valdez describes her vision of Happy Land as “both a literal and metaphorical manifestation of a people’s desire to rise into…

We teased spring in the newsletter a few weeks ago, but it’s officially arrived now — so here are a few more spring-into-summer happenings to keep in mind: Independent Bookstore Day happens on April 26, and indie stores across Tennessee have special plans to welcome customers that day. Check out your favorite local shop and make plans to…