Percival Everett’s The Trees bears witness to America’s long history of violence
In an age when many find justice elusive, some have resorted to the courtroom of fiction. The Trees by Percival Everett is a prime example of this literary justice, examining an American history of lynching, racism, and police brutality.
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Book Excerpt: Moon Jar
Didi Jackson’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, New England Review, Kenyon Review, Best American Poetry, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. She currently teaches creative writing at Vanderbilt University.
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A young girl in 1910 New York wrestles with fears both real and imagined
“Not everything is a monster,” admits 10-year-old Essie O’Neill in J. Kasper Kramer’s new middle grade novel, The List of Unspeakable Fears. “But some things are.” Essie should know; she keeps a list. And moving to a spooky old house in the middle of an island full of dangerously sick people is about to provide a lot more entries.
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For Tennessee writers, our environment’s fate hinges on unearthing the truth about where we stand
When I look across Tennessee’s literary ecosystem, I see how many of our writers feel compelled to write about their relationship to the land. Some have intertwined their literary vision with an environmental mission. Others have devoted their work to excavating truths about our history that have lain buried for too long.
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Book Excerpt: Our Cancers
Dan O’Brien’s Our Cancers chronicles the year and a half during which both he and his wife, actor and writer Jessica St. Clair, were treated for cancer. O’Brien is the author of three previous poetry collections and the recipient of many playwriting honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and two PEN America Awards. His essay collection A Story That Happens: On Playwriting, Childhood, & Other Traumas was published in 2021. He has served on the faculty of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference for more than a decade.
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Charles Hughes situates hip-hop star Bushwick Bill in the history of race, sex, disability, and national politics
In Why Bushwick Bill Matters, Charles Hughes explains the impact of an iconic hip-hop artist. He roots the story in both his academic training as a historian and his personal experience as person of short stature.
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