Leslie Lytle’s first novel chronicles a Tennessee woman’s fight against factory farming
December 9, 2015 A single mother in central Tennessee struggles to save a family farm threatened by a (barely) fictional corporate-poultry giant in Chicken Stock, a first novel by Tracy City journalist Leslie Lytle. Although Lytle is clearly a proponent of sustainable farming, the book deftly avoids becoming a poultry polemic.
NPR’s Fiona Ritchie talks with Chapter 16 about her new book on the evolution of Appalachian music
October 2, 2015 In a book that includes lavish illustrations and a twenty-track CD, Fiona Ritchie, creator and host of the long-running public radio program The Thistle and Shamrock, and Doug Orr, founder of the Swannanoa musical workshops, have produced an authoritative history of traditional American music. The pair will discuss Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia during the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 9-11, 2015.
Paul Theroux turns his keen traveler’s eye upon southern states and the state of all things Southern
September 28, 2015 In a career spanning five decades, Paul Theroux has produced fifty-one books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Mosquito Coast, The Great Railway Bazaar, and other notable titles. In his new book he chronicles extensive travels through the American South. Theroux will discuss Deep South during the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.
In the new historical thriller from Matthew Guinn, a disgraced detective returns to Atlanta to hunt a vicious serial killer
September 25, 2015 Matthew Guinn has created a rich, realistic portrait of Atlanta in 1881 for his new thriller, The Scribe, which features detective Thomas Canby, the target of a Reconstruction-era corruption charge, who must return to his native Atlanta to track down a serial killer. Guinn will discuss The Scribe at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on September 29, 2015, at 6:30 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.
Beloved children’s author Dav Pilkey talks with Chapter 16 about Captain Underpants
August 19, 2015 There’s something rotten in the state of Ohio in Captain Underpants and the Sensational Sir Stinks-A-Lot, the twelfth “epic novel” in Dav Pilkey’s popular series of graphic novels for children. Pilkey will appear as part of the Salon@615 series at the Nashville Public Library on August 25, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.
Bettyville is George Hodgman’s moving memoir of life with his elderly mother
August 4, 2015 What happens when a gay editor in his fifties leaves New York City to care for his ninety-year-old mother in the dying town of Paris, Missouri? In George Hodgman’s elegant memoir, Bettyville, the result is humor, a monumental battle of wills, and a moving reflection on the meaning of family. Hodgman will discuss Bettyville at the twenty-seventh annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015. All festival events are free and open to the public.
