Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Nashvillian

Liz Riggs’ debut novel looks at a creative woman’s struggle to find herself

With her debut novel, Lo Fi, Liz Riggs proves that Nashville can hold its own along with New York, L.A., or Boston when it comes to locales where young artists go to find themselves. Riggs will discuss Lo Fi at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 31.

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He Would’ve Said Goodbye

A madcap murder investigation helps a family cope with a loved one’s death in Fowl Play

“It’s kinda hard to hunt for a murderer,” declares young Chloe Alvarez, “when you don’t want to remember that a person is dead.” Chloe is the narrator and main character of Nashville writer Kristin O’Donnell Tubb’s latest middle-grade novel, Fowl Play, and she is desperate to know what really happened to her Uncle Will. Fowl Play is scheduled for release on July 30, and a launch event will be held at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere on August 2.

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To Live on This Margin of Earth

Three debut poetry collections highlight the originality of their authors’ visions

Recently published debut poetry collections from Tara M. Stringfellow, Ben Groner III, and Stephanie Choi invite us into the particulars of their authors’ imaginative worlds.

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Explosive Revelations

Betsy Phillips’ Dynamite Nashville is a raucous, engrossing investigation of white supremacist violence

In Dynamite Nashville, Betsy Phillips plunges into the world of white supremacist violence in Nashville during the civil rights era. Phillips will discuss the book at the Tennessee State Museum on July 13.

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The Year of Living Surreally

For Robyn Hitchcock, the psychedelic call of 1967 inspired a lifetime of music

Robyn Hitchcock’s memoir 1967 tells the story of a time, a place, a music — and how they fired his imagination. Hitchcock will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 18.

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Soccer on the Edge of Town

It’s painful, this loss, this growing up

I still remember the soccer fields at the edge of Nashville, off Highway 70. Way out in Bellevue by the Toys ’R Us and the Sonic and the psychic with the big white sign. We had to be there early for our games. Squinting hour, foggy hour. Can’t-finish-your-cereal hour.

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