Martin Wilson’s debut novel brings gay coming-of-age tales out of the YA closet
Select a book at random from your bookshop’s young-adult section, and (if it’s not Harry Potter lookalike), chances are very, very good that it will be some take on a…
Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser brings a message of hope to Nashville
In the late 1990s, when investigative journalist Eric Schlosser began researching Fast Food Nation, his revealing and deeply unsettling look at the ills of America’s fast-food industry, few major mainstream…
Essayist, scholar, and novelist Randall Kenan responds with passion to the legacy of James Baldwin
“These days people can be so trite when discussing the idea of race and its attendant problems. Too many reach instantly for bromides and hackneyed phrases that merely restate positions,…
In her deeply original debut novel, Dolen Perkins-Valdez looks at the interior lives of the enslaved women kept as mistresses by Southern planters
Wench, a story of enslaved concubines and their white male masters, is a surefooted and engrossing work of historical fiction. While debut novelist Dolen Perkins-Valdez, a Memphis native, grounds her…
Sherrilyn Kenyon’s soul-sucking vampires have earned her a million fans
Before Americans were hooked on True Blood, before Twilight sank its teeth into millions of readers and moviegoers, Sherrilyn Kenyon was swiftly and quietly building her vampire-lit empire. Kenyon, whom…
Why Helen Hemphill gave up a successful career in business to write novels for children
Anyone who’s ever dreamed of giving up a successful but unfulfilling career to become a full-time writer will love Helen Hemphill’s story. Twelve years ago, the Texas-born, Nashville-based novelist was…
