Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Comedy of Empathy

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Andrew Sean Greer talks with Chapter 16 about finding his way into a story

From the Chapter 16 archive: “Doubt is essential to the writing life,” Andrew Sean Greer says. “If you only had arrogance, you’d write a book that’s all ego.” 

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Gatherers at Time’s End

Excerpt: Specter Mountain

From the Chapter 16 archive: Specter Mountain is a book-length poetry collaboration between Jesse Graves and William Wright that imagines the spiritual and ecological life of an embattled landscape. The collection fuses two striking poetic visions into a new perspective on nature and the inevitable imprint of human interaction with wilderness.

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One Cure to Heal Them All

In Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s historical novel, a Tennessee root doctor looks for a way to treat suffering after the Civil War

From the Chapter 16 archive: In Balm, Dolen Perkins-Valdez investigates the possibilities of healing the personal and national trauma caused by the Civil War. 

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"Lighter"

From the Chapter 16 archive: Blas Falconer is the author of The Perfect Hour (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2006) and A Question of Gravity and Light (University of Arizona Press, 2007), and his work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Another Chicago Magazine, Third Coast, Puerto del Sol, Poet Lore, New Delta Review, and the Baltimore Review. “Lighter” originally appeared in the Hampton-Sydney Review.

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Toward What? Away From What?

A poet alone in Costa Rica considers the nature of art—and loneliness

From the Chapter 16 archive: This type of travel is not meant to soothe; it’s not like a seven-day cruise where the aim is to make sure you never feel lost, unsure, or in want. This travel is about want. About loneliness. About insecurity. About all those things that go into the poems that stay with you, the ones that risk and surprise, that ache to be written, and that talk back to you on the page.

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Happiness Is a Sad Song

Dr. Ralph Stanley discusses his 63 years in music

From the Chapter 16 archive: When he was a child, he was often called “the boy with the hundred year old voice.” In his book Man of Constant Sorrow, Stanley recounts a career spanning six decades and millions of miles.

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