Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

They Got the Beat

A new anthology considers the role of women artists in rock-n-roll

Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyonce, Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl, Evelyn McDonnell’s gorgeous new coffee-table book with illustrations by four impressive women visual artists, traces the evolution of women in music.

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The Descent of Man

Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered tells parallel stories of desperate families

The protagonists of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered are two families, separated by 140 years, who occupy a dilapidated house during parallel periods of cultural crisis. Kingsolver will discuss Unsheltered at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on November 2. The event is part of the Salon@615 series.

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William Gay

Book Excerpt: Jesus Crawdad Death

In this excerpt from Jesus Crawdad Death, a new limited-edition chapbook from Third Man Books, Chapter 16’s Betsy Phillips considers the power of an unfinished ghost story by the late Hohenwald novelist William Gay. Phillips will appear at Third Man Records in Nashville on October 28 at 4 p.m.

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Men Falling from the Sky

In Erica Wright’s new Kat Stone mystery, death hits a little too close to home

In The Blue Kingfisher, Erica Wright continues the story of her dauntless detective, Kat Stone, in a tale of greed, family, fear, and—despite everything—something like grace. Wright will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 4.

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A Touchstone for Leaders and Citizens Alike

Legendary historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks with Chapter 16 about her new book, Leadership in Turbulent Times

In Leadership in Turbulent Times, famed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin considers the lessons that can be drawn from the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Goodwin will be in conversation with Jon Meacham on October 28. This special edition of the Salon@615 series will be held at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.

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Peeking Under Someone Else’s Roof

Beth Ann Fennelly brings poetry to her new memoir in essays

Beth Ann Fennelly, the multi-talented author of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, has created, yet again, a book that is wholly original, engrossing, and poignant. Heating & Cooling is a series of fifty-two micro-essays that chronicle her life as a writer, mother, and wife. Fennelly will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 27.

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