Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

A Tale of Two Women

A nurse and a teacher from different eras follow similar paths in The Light of Luna Park

Addison Armstrong’s debut novel, The Light of Luna Park, is a deft fusion of fiction and the facts about a startling moment in medical history, when a project to save premature infants became an amusement park sideshow.

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Such a Solitary Thing

Lucy Barton returns in Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William!

With Oh William!, novelist Elizabeth Strout delivers a tour de force on the mysteries of what it means to be human. Strout will appear in conversation with Susan Orlean and Ann Patchett at a virtual event on October 20 as part of the Salon@615 series.

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Always a Circling Back

Jesse Graves’ Said-Songs explores the mysteries of poetry and place

East Tennessee poet Jesse Graves’ Said-Songs, a collection of essays, reviews, and interviews, evokes the author’s rural childhood to engage with the poetry of Appalachia, roots music, and the varied meanings of place.

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Messenger

Moving past sadness and old hopes

I needed a messenger this morning, in the kitchen where my former mate and I had shared meals and talk for 24 years. He had passed 5 days before of a heart attack.

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As Real as They Are Magical

Bradley Sides’ debut collection delivers sincerely strange stories

Bradley Sides dedicates his first book to “all the dreamers, young and old — those now and those becoming….” Whether or not you consider yourself a dreamer — or a fan of magical realism — you will likely find something to believe in reading Sides’ beautiful stories.

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The Animal in the Mirror

Susan Orlean shows us ourselves in stories about furry and feathered companions

The four-legged and two-winged subjects in Susan Orlean’s essay collection On Animals include the wild and domestic, the friend and the servant. But really, it’s more about the people. She will be appearing at a virtual event with Elizabeth Strout and Ann Patchett in the Salon@615 series on October 20.

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