Editor's Note
This is our last newsletter of 2025, but we’re wrapping things up with an eye toward the future. We’re delighted to announce that submissions for the 2026 Tennessee Book Awards are open today and will run through February 17. Eligible books must have a 2025 copyright date and be traditionally published, and the author must be a current Tennessee resident. See the Humanities Tennessee website for full details and a submission form.
Today at Chapter 16, Sara Beth West reviews Queer Communion: Religion in Appalachia, a collection of queer perspectives on faith and community, edited by Davis Shoulders. Abby N. Lewis reviews Liz Parker’s latest novel Witches of Honeysuckle House. And rounding out the week and the year, Emily Choate considers Feller, a new poetry collection by Denton Loving.
Many thanks to all our readers and contributors for their steadfast support through the challenges of 2025. Chapter 16 will return on January 5. In the meantime, we wish everyone a joyful and safe holiday season.
News Roundup
- Keith Flynn, founder and managing editor of Asheville Poetry Review announced that the journal’s 2025 issue, due for release in March 2026, will be the last. We send our best wishes to Keith, with gratitude for more than 30 years of great poetry.
- Applications for the 2026 Tremont Writers Conference will open on January 20.
- Alice Bolin was interviewed for Montana Public Radio.
- Richard Jackson’s poem “A Loud Death” was featured by Poem-a-Day.
- Frances Figart’s essay “Safeway” was published in ContiguousLyt.
