Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

“Vigil Hemming In”

Book Excerpt: Exorcism Lessons in the Heartland

Cara Dees is the author of Exorcism Lessons in the Heartland, winner of the 2018 Barrow Street Book Prize. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Best New Poets, Harvard Review, and Poetry Daily. A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cincinnati, she holds an M.F.A. from Vanderbilt University. Dees will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.

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Means of Survival

Saeed Jones’ memoir delivers a portrait of the artist as a young gay black man

In his memoir How We Fight for Our Lives, award-winning poet Saeed Jones recalls his struggle to find a way to live fully in a world that did not readily provide a place for him. Jones will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.

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Righteous Among the Nations

Tennessee native Chris Edmonds shares his father’s heroic act with the world in No Surrender

In the final days of WWII, Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds saved over 200 Jewish servicemen from death at the hands of the Nazis. The inspiring story is told by his son Chris Edmonds in No Surrender: A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today. Edmonds will discuss the book at Books-A-Million in Sevierville on October 11; at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13; and at Barnes & Noble at Vanderbilt in Nashville on October 30.

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Food Fight

Anissa Gray discusses family, process, and her absorbing debut novel

With The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, Anissa Gray digs deep into sibling relationships, trauma, and grace. Gray will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.

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I Am a Narrative

Novelist Jacqueline Woodson explores myriad facets of identity in Red at the Bone

In Red at the Bone, with characteristic lyricism and insight, Jacqueline Woodson delivers an astonishingly rich and resonant portrait of 21st-century American identity. Woodson will discuss the novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 10.

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“For Chloe, on Turning Eighteen”

Book Excerpt: Candescent

Linda Parsons’ poetry has appeared in The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and Shenandoah, among many other journals and anthologies. She is playwright-in-residence for The Hammer Ensemble, the social justice wing of Flying Anvil Theatre in Knoxville. Candescent is her fifth poetry collection. 

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