Chapter 16 - Part 124

Wherever You Go, There You Are

A teenager explores her heritage and herself in Delhi

By Tracy Barrett | May 12, 2021

In Sheba Karim’s fourth YA novel, The Marvelous Mirza Girls, Noreen is grieving the death of her beloved aunt. She postpones her first year of college and travels to Delhi, where — with the charming Kabir as her guide — she explores the chaotic and beautiful city, a stark contrast to her suburban New Jersey home. Karim will discuss The Marvelous Mirza Girls at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 18.

The Curvature of the World

Great Circle explores the interconnected lives surrounding a famous woman aviator

By Emily Choate | May 11, 2021

Maggie Shipstead’s century-spanning Great Circle traces aviator Marian Graves’ single-minded pursuit of flight and the lives of numerous characters connected to her, including a scandalous movie star preparing to play Marian onscreen. Shipstead will discuss the novel at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 20^.

Our Town

I’ll Take You There is a collaborative guide to places in Nashville shaped by social justice work

By Kim Green | May 10, 2021

I’ll Take You There, edited by Amie Thurber and Learotha Williams Jr. and written by more than 100 local contributors, guides readers to Nashville places shaped by resistance to power and injustice.

Sweet Songs Never Last Too Long

A fan remembers 40 years of following John Prine

By Eve Hutcherson | May 7, 2021

The first time I saw John Prine in concert, it was hard to know what to make of him. As a college student at the University of Kentucky in the late 1970s, a music fan since childhood, I was already a veteran of many concerts, spanning rock to folk to R&B to jazz to church music. But who had ever seen anything like this guy?

The Cost of Healing

Anjali Enjeti’s The Parted Earth follows several generations of personal fallout from India’s Partition

By Emily Choate | May 6, 2021

Running through the core of Anjali Enjeti’s debut novel, The Parted Earth, is the volatile atmosphere of India’s Partition, a deadly era of violence that tore apart communities and families. Spanning generations and countries, the story examines the personal costs of starting over in the face of tragedy.

Empowering People for the Long Haul

Stephen Preskill revisits the story of Myles Horton and the Highlander Folk School

By Peter Kuryla | May 5, 2021

Stephen Preskill’s Education in Black and White revisits the history of the Highlander Folk Center and its longtime director Myles Horton. The author weaves the stories of several activist-educators who, as they learned together at Highlander, imagined possibilities for participatory democratic life. Preskill will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 12.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher