Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Essence

Book Excerpt: Ten Seconds In-Between

Doug Hoekstra is a Chicago-bred, Nashville-based creative whose stories, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous publications. He has toured the U.S. and Europe as a singer-songwriter, in support of eight albums on various labels. His story collection Ten Seconds In-Between is forthcoming in June 2021.

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The Sucker

You can learn a lot from a poker game

I was 18 and about to be the first Vargo to leave Detroit for any reason other than war, thanks to a student loan, a Pell grant, and the gift of an academic probation program that gave kids like me one semester to prove our scholarly worth or go back to wherever it was we came from. I felt so smart.

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“No Filter”

Book Excerpt: What We Take With Us

Sylvia Woods is a native of Eastern Kentucky who taught high school English in East Tennessee for 43 years. Her poems have appeared in Appalachian Review, Calliope, Centrifugal Eye, Tennessee English Journal, and elsewhere. What We Take With Us is her first full-length poetry collection.

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The Spaces Between People

Corey Mesler shares a few thoughts on antiheroes, privacy, and prolificity

Memphis author and bookstore owner Corey Mesler talks to Chapter 16 about his latest novel and the challenges of running a small business during the pandemic.

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More Than a Footnote

Kim Ruehl explores the life of activist Zilphia Horton in A Singing Army

In A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk School, Kim Ruehl makes a spirited, independent woman central to the story of the legendary training center for labor and civil rights activists.

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“Time Is a Desert of Rain”

Book Excerpt: Heirloom Language

Barbara E. Young is a Middle Tennessee native. She has known party lines, coonskin caps, hula hoops, transistor radios under the covers, 8-track, CD-ROM, Blogger, and Covid 19. She returned to writing poetry at age 60 and still has a lot to learn. Heirloom Language is her first full-length collection. Young will read from her work at Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville on June 24.

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