Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Sean Kinch

Romance and Revolution

Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors creates a world of false facades and alter egos

In Tan Twan Eng’s The House of Doors, celebrated writer W. Somerset Maugham visits friends in the Malay Peninsula during a time of personal crisis and political upheaval. Tan will discuss The House of Doors at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Survival of the Hungriest

C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk and Honey is set within an elite bubble in a poisoned world

In C Pam Zhang’s new novel, Land of Milk and Honey, an Asian-American chef escapes ecological catastrophe by going to work for an elite research community on a remote mountain in the Alps. C Pam Zhang will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 4.

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Wild Goose Chase for Enlightenment

In The Men Can’t Be Saved, a rascally antihero struggles to get out of his own way

In Ben Purkert’s debut novel, The Men Can’t Be Saved, a young copywriter lets success inflate his ego until he finds his life spinning out of control. Ben Purkert will discuss The Men Can’t Be Saved at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Too Coarse for Poetry

Tom Piazza’s new novel imagines an 1883 meeting of writers hoping to redefine America

In Tom Piazza’s novel The Auburn Conference, an idealistic scholar arranges a meeting of famous writers in 1883 to debate the meaning of America. Piazza will discuss the book at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on May 11.

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Scarred Souls

In Michael Farris Smith’s Salvage This World, a young mother seeks shelter with her estranged father

In Michael Farris Smith’s Salvage This World, a young mother, fleeing unknown pursuers, seeks asylum with her estranged father while a hurricane threatens to decimate the Gulf Coast. Smith will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on May 1 and Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 2.

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The Imagined Country

In Charles Frazier’s The Trackers, a painter searches for a rich rancher’s runaway wife

Set in the later years of the Depression, Charles Frazier’s The Trackers tells the story of a painter, commissioned to create a mural for a Wyoming post office, who is hired by a wealthy rancher to locate his runaway wife. Charles Frazier will discuss The Trackers with Tony Earley at a ticketed event at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 11.

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