Editor’s Notes

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…

Last week we mentioned forthcoming spring books, and this week it’s bookish spring gatherings. Appalachian WordFest (formerly the Rose Glen Literary Festival) will take place at the Sevierville Convention Center on March 1. Presenters will include Mike Maden, Robert Beatty, and The Smoking Guns (Sisters in Crime). Plenty Book Shop in Cookeville is hosting Wine and Words Book…

As this newsletter is being composed, Middle Tennessee is experiencing its first real snow of the winter, and your Chapter 16 editor can hear children outside making the most of this rare sledding opportunity. In times of joy as well as times of trouble and loss, there’s something about gently falling snow that brings a sense of…