Editor’s Notes

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…

Writers who are looking for some wintertime fellowship and guidance should mark their calendars for the Tennessee Mountain Writers January Jumpstart, scheduled for January 17-18 in Oak Ridge. Writers, readers, and publishers are also invited to participate in Appalachian Wordfest on February 28 in Sevierville. We’ll be sharing links for spring gatherings after the new year, but in…

December is here, and with it comes the tidal wave of year’s best lists. We think readers are perfectly capable of making their own lists of books they loved in 2025, but it’s still nice to see so many fine books with a Tennessee connection get a shout out. For instance, Tiana Clark’s Scorched Earth and Maria Zoccola’s Helen of Troy, 1993 were…

Chapter 16 will be taking its usual break next week for Thanksgiving, so this week we’re featuring three new essays that touch on the joys — as well as the sorrows — of love, family and gratitude. In “Rewriting the Footnotes,” Liz Garrigan speaks to the well-meaning people who see her family’s international life as a gift, overlooking the…

2026 will be here before you know it, and things are looking pretty promising on the book front. Last week, we mentioned Ann Patchett’s Whistler, due in June. Novels by Ruta Sepetys and Susannah Felts will also be released that month (see the News Roundup below for links). You won’t have to wait quite that long for Tayari Jones’ Kin, which will arrive…

The bad news is that daylight saving time has ended and the sun now sets before many of us can get home from work. The good news is that chilly weather and long evenings create excellent conditions for reading. Now’s the time to start tackling that TBR pile — before holiday shopping finds you adding…