Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Emily Choate

Life After Life After Life

Nora McInerny rebuilds her life after deep loss in No Happy Endings

In No Happy Endings, Nora McInerny recounts her struggle to embrace a new season of life even as she grieves the brutal constellation of losses she has endured—her father’s death, a miscarriage, and the death of her first husband—all in six weeks. McInerny will discuss No Happy Endings at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 9.

Read more

Mother is a Circle

Absence haunts Sophia Shalmiyev’s captivating memoir, Mother Winter

In her debut memoir, Mother Winter, Sophia Shalmiyev creates a haunting, lyrical meditation on her troubled mother, an alcoholic whom Shalmiyev and her father left behind when they emigrated to the United States from Russia. Shalmiyev will discuss Mother Winter at Third Man Records in Nashville on April 28.

Read more

Books and Rock, Love and Theft

Florence Dore explores early rock’s relationship to Southern fiction in Novel Sounds

Nashville native Florence Dore’s Novel Sounds explores early rock and roll’s influence on postwar Southern fiction, zeroing in on the use of the ballads and blues traditions. Dore will discuss Novel Sounds alongside Nashville musician Kevin Gordon at Vanderbilt University’s First Amendment Center Auditorium on April 11.

Read more

Startled Into Sudden Change

Rebellious women wrestle against fate in Cary Holladay’s Brides in the Sky

Brides in the Sky, the new story collection by Memphis writer Cary Holladay, brims with vibrant life, nuanced characters, and plots fueled by surprise and suspense. Holladay will discuss Brides in the Sky at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on February 5, at 5:30 p.m.

Read more

Opening the Black Box

A routine DNA test upends Dani Shapiro’s sense of identity

Dani Shapiro was unprepared for a routine DNA test’s stunning revelation: that her beloved father was not a biological relative. Her new memoir, Inheritance, tracks the fallout of these results, one surprising revelation after another. Shapiro will discuss Inheritance at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 30.

Read more

Convictions

Damien Echols guides readers through the spiritual practices that saved him on death row

“You’re already doing magick,” Damien Echols writes in High Magick, his introductory guide to the energy-based spiritual practices that helped him survive eighteen years on death row. Echols will discuss the book at Unity of Nashville on November 8 at 6:15 p.m.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING