Editor’s Notes

The authors for the 2024 TN Writers | TN Stories event series have been announced, and it’s another stellar lineup this year. The series will kick off on April 12 with Keith B. Wood discussing his book The Memphis Red Sox and it will wrap up in October with Kevin Wilson and his forthcoming novel, Run for the Hills. The roster also includes John P.…

The Porch, Nashville’s nonprofit literary center, will be holding its annual fundraiser on May 2, and this year’s featured authors are Tennessee’s own Mary Laura Philpott and Margaret Renkl. On May 3, Memphis will welcome Roxane Gay as one of the keynote speakers for this year’s Bookstock author festival. (Check out the news roundup below for a conversation between Gay and poet Saeed Jones.) Today…

Celebrated poet, novelist, playwright, and cultural critic Ishmael Reed will visit Chattanooga on March 15 as a featured speaker for the Chattanooga Public Library’s Culture on 4 series. Reed, who was born in Chattanooga, first gained a reputation as an original, uncompromising literary voice with his early novels Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (1969) and Mumbo Jumbo (1972), which was a finalist for the National Book Award.…

We’re coming out of last week’s bitterly cold weather, and of course the rising warmth isn’t really spring arriving, but it feels a bit that way. Spring will get here eventually, though, and some fine literary gatherings will come with it. In April, Lorrie Moore will be the featured author for Chattanooga’s annual Writers@Work event, and Janisse Ray and Charles Dodd White are among the faculty for the Appalachian…

This year’s TN Writers | TN Stories author talk series at the Tennessee State Museum is taking shape, and an exciting list of authors will be announced soon. In the meantime, explore the videos of past events — a great way to get your book chat fix without leaving home on these cold, gray late-winter days.  And speaking of book events,…

When you visit Chapter 16 today, you’ll find that we’ve had a bit of a glow up. Here are a few words from Serenity Gerbman, director of literature and language programs at Humanities Tennessee, about our new site design: We launched Chapter 16 way back in 2009 on a shoestring budget, and we are forever indebted to artist Billy Renkl for creating…