Editor’s Notes

It’s May already. How did that happen? Hard to believe that we’re not even six full months away from the 2026 Southern Festival of Books, but it’ll be here before we know it, and planning is already well underway. If you subscribe to the newsletters for Humanities Tennessee and the festival, you already know that the reveal party will be…

Writers looking for a spell of literary community in a revered locale should note that registration is currently open for The Yok Shop conference in Oxford, Mississippi, which will take place June 5-7. Faculty for this year’s conference will include Michael Knight, M.O. Walsh, and Olivia Clare Friedman. For established and aspiring playwrights, the STAAR Theatre in Pulaski is seeking submissions for…

This Saturday, April 25th, will be the 13th Annual Independent Bookstore Day. Stores around the U.S. are planning special events for the occasion, so check the national map for a participating store near you — or see our list of Tennessee bookstores for destinations here in the 16th state.  Today at the site, Sean Kinch reviews the latest story collection by Irish…

Submissions for the 2026 Porchlight Prize in Poetry are now open. The winner will receive a minimum $300 award, as well as publication in Porchlight and a planned anthology. The deadline for submissions is May 31.  And speaking of deadlines, it’s not too late to apply for this year’s Young Writers’ Workshop, held at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and open to students age…

We all know how much Dolly Parton loves books, but did you know she’s an especially big fan of Lee Smith’s work? Woman’s World recently shared a little of Dolly’s literary preferences and noted her long friendship with the storytelling legend. The Southern Festival of Books and Chapter 16 get a shout out in the piece, which links to the 2023 interview our own Tina Chambers did with…

Sheri Lea Sellmeyer’s Nashville’s New Americans takes an up close and personal look at the issue of immigration via profiles of individuals from around the world who have made Nashville home. Reviewer Caroline Siegrist writes that the book “serves as a powerful reminder of the immense diversity the city contains,” and she notes Sellmeyer’s observation that immigrants have been…