Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Barnyard Democracy

Lambslide, Ann Patchett’s first children’s book, features a flock of lambs and a landslide victory

Acclaimed Nashville novelist Ann Patchett joins Fancy Nancy illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser at Parnassus Books on May 6 to celebrate Lambslide, the new children’s picture book they created together.

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Believing in the Power of the Heart

Rockvale Writers’ Colony, a new retreat in College Grove, offers writers the time, space, and support they need

When my agent asked to see a complete revision of my work-in-progress, I didn’t know whether I could face it again. As with that tangle of cords and cables you stash in the back of your closet just in case you’ll need them, even though you’re not sure what half of them are for, I feared that if I pulled on one cord, the others would tighten into a death knot. How would I ever rewrite the whole book and hand it in on time? Fortunately, I had a plan: I’d apply to Rockvale Writers’ Colony.

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In Pursuit of the Common Good

In a new nonfiction book, Basil Hero considers the character traits of the Apollo astronauts

Basil Hero looks into the hearts of the “farmboy nerds” of NASA’s race to the moon and finds modest men with the ability to sequester their fears and focus on a task. Hero will discuss The Mission of a Lifetime at Novel in Memphis on April 28.

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Say It with Fondue

Helen Ellis’s Southern Lady Code is a gimlet-eyed, laugh-out-loud collection of linked essays

Southern Lady Code, writes Helen Ellis, is “a technique by which, if you don’t have something nice to say, you say something not-so-nice in a nice way.” Ellis will discuss her new essay collection at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 30.

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Sing, O Muse, of the Concrete Parthenon

Mary Norris’s hilarious new memoir, Greek to Me, celebrates all things Hellenic

In her new memoir, Greek to Me, Mary Norris proves to be a fantastic companion and guide—the perfect person to breathe life into a dead language. Norris will discuss the book in a conversation with Ann Patchett at The Parthenon in Nashville on April 28.

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A Protection Against Oblivion

Lindsey A. Freeman’s unconventional memoir recreates a childhood in the atomic city

A frequent visitor to her grandparents’ Oak Ridge home as a child, sociologist Lindsey A. Freeman grew up under the shadow of an atomic cloud, an experience she explores in a new memoir, This Atom Bomb in Me.

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