Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Hidden Tennessee

Cave expert Larry E. Matthews takes readers on a remarkable tour of the Middle Tennessee underground

For over 40 years, Nashville resident Larry E. Matthews has produced a slew of specialized books chronicling some of Tennessee’s 10,000 known caves. His latest, the lavishly illustrated Caves of the Highland Rim, may be the most accessible to general readers, revealing hidden worlds through Matthews’ clear prose and detailed photographs by Bob Biddix.

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Death Is the Mother of Beauty

Poet Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum talks with Chapter 16 about grief, memory, and healing

Nashville poet Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum’s second collection, Visiting Hours, is an invitation to join him in communing with and grieving for the spirit of his longtime friend Mary Interlandi, who took her life in 2003. It is at once sweeping and focused, grand and intimate.

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“Forsythia in February”

Book Excerpt: Visiting Hours

Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, a Nashville native, is the author of Ghost Gear and editor of Apocalypse Now: Poems & Prose from the End of Days. He’s the acquisitions editor for Upper Rubber Boot Books and the founder and editor of PoemoftheWeek.com and the Floodgate Poetry Series.

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The Paradise, The Grave, The City, The Wilderness

The characters of Katy Simpson Smith’s The Everlasting span the long, winding history of Rome

Readers who love history for its grand, sweeping scale will find the premise of Katy Simpson Smith’s novel, The Everlasting, irresistible: a quartet of characters whose stories span almost 2,000 years and whose experiences delve into the chaotic, multilayered, enduring heart of Rome. 

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Hope Springs Eternal

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham examines the last words of Jesus

In The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross, historian Jon Meacham offers a series of devotional essays inspired by his own faith.

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Paths of Resistance

Multimedia artist Jessica Ingram explores the South’s racist history in Road Through Midnight

Multimedia artist Jessica Ingram, who grew up in Nashville, commemorates acts of resistance to segregation and white supremacist terror in Road Through Midnight. The book includes her photographs of sites scarred by racial violence, as well as interviews with victims’ families and journalists who covered the crimes.

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