In Daniel Woodrell’s The Maid’s Version, the Ozarks are beset by mayhem
September 3, 2013 Daniel Woodrell’s characters live in a dangerous world. In Woodrell’s new novel, The Maid’s Version, scenes of casual cruelty follow passages of sexual abuse and bloody bar fights. Woodrell will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.
Novelist Jonathan Tropper talks with Chapter 16 about comedy and catastrophe
August 26, 2013 Jonathan Tropper’s six novels address a fundamental question: when life doesn’t turn out as you planned, what do you do next? Despite the catastrophes Tropper’s characters encounter, his books are fun, knee-slapping, tear-inducing comedies that provide a guide for surviving calamity and discovering what lies on the other side. Tropper talks with Chapter 16 prior to his appearance at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.
Philipp Meyer’s The Son covers all the bases in an epic novel of Texas
June 19, 2013 Philipp Meyer’s novel The Son ranges across Texas history from the years of the Republic to the oil boom of the 1980s, from the Comanches of the West to the Mexican ranches in the South, portraying a state steeped in violence and injustice. Focused on three generations of a single family, the novel punctures myths of the independent cowboy and the virtuous Native American, but it also provides a nostalgic view of a beautiful land all-too-quickly destroyed by commercial exploitation. Meyer will discuss The Son at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 25 at 6:30 p.m.
In A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra charts the crossfire of dirty wars
May 15, 2013 Anthony Marra’s A Constellation of Vital Phenomena puts a human face on the dehumanizing forces of war, revealing the ways in which the lives of people in a small mountain village in Chechnya are overturned by fifteen years of conflict with the Russian Federation. Memorials to the disappeared are a form of defiance, and even a single life spared from obliteration feels like a moral victory. Anthony Marra will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 2 p.m. on May 18, 2013.
Isabel Allende discusses her new novel, Maya’s Notebook, and explains her affection for vagabonds and the terrors of modern parenting
April 29, 2013 Isabel Allende’s new novel, Maya’s Notebook, charts a young woman’s downward spiral into addiction and crime, as well as her path toward healing and redemption. Maya tells the story in her own words, providing an intimate vantage on the trauma that leads to the desire for self-destruction and the love required to overcome it. Allende spoke with Chapter 16 prior to her reading at the Nashville Public Library on May 3 at 6:15 p.m. The event, part of the Salon@615 series, is free and open to the public.
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In Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, a warming climate inspires an East Tennessee showdown
November 19, 2012 Barbara Kingsolver’s epic 1998 novel, The Poisonwood Bible, offers a profound inquiry into the nature of faith and the meaning of family. At its core, her new novel asks another fundamental question: “Where will we go from here?” On November 27, Barbara Kingsolver will discuss Flight Behavior at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series. The event begins at 6:15 p.m.; doors open at 5:45.
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