Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Tina Chambers

More to Them Than How They Died

Allison Moorer turns family tragedy into bittersweet art

 

In Blood, country music artist Allison Moorer describes the circumstances that led to her parents’ murder-suicide in 1986 and the crime’s devastating effect on her and her only sibling, fellow singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne. Moorer will appear with Silas House in a virtual event hosted by The Porch in Nashville on October 28. 

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Willing to Sacrifice

Country music superstar Sara Evans offers her life story and hard-earned wisdom

“I was born with a God-given gift for music,” writes country music superstar Sara Evans in Born to Fly. Evans tells the story of her rise in the music industry and dispenses hard-earned wisdom — from qualities to look for (and avoid) in a mate to the comfort of her Christian faith.

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Baking Can Save You

Lisa Donovan’s memoir is never short of passion

As much a manifesto as a memoir, Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger by Nashville writer and pastry chef Lisa Donovan is beautifully written, fresh, and powerful — in the tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Donovan will appear at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

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The Past Is Never Dead

A new memoir by Lawrence Wells pulls back the curtain on a Southern literary community

Lawrence Wells and his wife, the late Dean Faulkner Wells, had a rare view into the literary community of Oxford, Mississippi, during their nearly 40 years together. Wells recounts it all in his engaging memoir, In Faulkner’s Shadow. He’ll discuss the book at an online event hosted by Novel in Memphis on September 28.

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Grief, Guilt, and Greed

Communing with the dead is good business in Helene Dunbar’s Prelude for Lost Souls

“St. Hilaire was all about guiding the living through contact with the dead,” explains 17-year-old Russ in Helene Dunbar’s new young adult novel, Prelude for Lost Souls. “We simply relayed the words of the dead to those who needed to hear them.” Russ is one of three troubled teens whose lives intersect one summer in a mysterious New York town. Dunbar will discuss the book at YA-hoo Fest, an online celebration of young adult literature hosted by the Southern Lit Alliance in Chattanooga, September 14-17.

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Battered by the Bomb

Within a love triangle, broken characters seek healing from the wounds of war

The war is over, but deep and debilitating scars remain in Jennie Fields’ novel, Atomic Love, set in 1950s Chicago. When an FBI agent asks a former Manhattan Project nuclear physicist to investigate her former lover, who is accused of treason, her quiet life is turned upside down. Jennie Fields will discuss Atomic Love at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 18.

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