Chapter 16 - Part 15

Her Majesty’s Ottoman Enterprises

Historian Jerry Brotton talks with Chapter 16 about England’s groundbreaking relations with Islamic empires

By Sean Kinch | February 13, 2017

In The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam, Jerry Brotton examines the way Elizabethan England managed to circumvent Catholic Europe to open trade relations with Islamic empires. Brotton will appear at Rhodes College in Memphis to discuss “Jews and Muslims in Shakespeare’s World” with James Shapiro in Hardie Auditorium on February 22 at 6 p.m. The event, part of the Communities in Conversation series, is free and open to the public.

Coming Full Circle

Andrew Maraniss talks with Chapter 16 about the new edition of Strong Inside for young readers

By Sean Kinch | February 1, 2017

Andrew Maraniss spent eight years researching and writing Strong Inside, the story of Vanderbilt basketball player Perry Wallace, who broke the color barrier in SEC athletics. Now Maraniss has produced a version of the story for readers in middle and high school. He will launch the new edition at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 9 at 6:30 p.m.

The Skinless Horse

Michael Chabon’s Moonglow is the death-bed memoir of a fictional Jewish scientist

By Sean Kinch | November 29, 2016

In Michael Chabon’s new novel, Moonglow, a dying man summons his grandson and reveals his life story, including picaresque adventure, tragic romance, and stellar ambition—and the lingering psycho-social damage inflicted by the Holocaust. Chabon will discuss Moonglow at the Nashville Public Library on December 4 at 3 p.m.

The Ties of Blood

In Robert Olen Butler’s Perfume River, Vietnam haunts soldiers and their families decades after the war

By Sean Kinch | October 6, 2016

perfume-river-by-robert-olen-butler In Robert Olen Butler’s new novel, Perfume River, the past is very much present as an aging history professor struggles to shake traumatic memories of the Vietnam War and the way it tore his family apart. Butler will discuss Perfume River at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on October 13 at 6 p.m., and also at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16.

We Back Pat

In The Final Season, Maria Cornelius recounts the farewell tour of legendary coach Pat Summitt

By Sean Kinch | September 23, 2016

maria-cornelius-the-final-season After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Pat Summitt coached the Lady Vols for one more year. She didn’t want “a pity party,” but she couldn’t stop the outpouring of adulation she received from her countless fans. In The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt , Maria Cornelius recounts the emotional conclusion to the most influential career in the history of women’s basketball. Cornelius will discuss The Final Season at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on September 30 at 5:30 p.m.

The Invisible Man

In Jonathan Safran Foer’s Here I Am, a Jewish father tries to prove he really exists

By Sean Kinch | September 12, 2016

here-i-am-foer Jacob Bloch, the central character in Jonathan Safran Foer’s new novel, Here I Am, suffers from existential uncertainty. The heart of this ambitious work of fiction depicts Jacob’s attempt to deserve “the privilege of being alive.” Jonathan Safran Foer will discuss Here I Am at the Nashville Public Library on September 15, 2016, at 6:15 p.m. The event, part of the Salon@615 series, is free and open to the public.

Tender Headed (National Poetry Series)

By Olatunde Osinaike
Akashic Books
80 pages
17.95

“In Tender Headed, Olatunde Osinaike asks the question, what makes a man, and what makes a man like me? As he interrogates the inner and outer workings of masculinity in all its sharp and tender parts, and the way a Black man meets the world, his poems strut and duck and weave across their pages. These poems unpack the ingredients of being and make a meal of language.”

~ Camille Rankine, author of Incorrect Merciful Impulses