Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

An Occupational Hazard

In Depth of Winter, Craig Johnson puts Sheriff Walt Longmire in a different cold place

In the latest Walt Longmire mystery, Craig Johnson sends his protagonist south of the border, where Walt must confront his greatest challenge: a hot landscape with a cold heart. Johnson will discuss Depth of Winter at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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A Stolen Life

Zora Neale Hurston relates the stories of an extraordinary survivor of the transatlantic slave trade

When she died, Zora Neale Hurston left behind a manuscript that tells the story of the last living survivor of the transatlantic slave trade. The editor of the book, titled Barracoon, is the Hurston scholar Deborah Plant who will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 in Nashville.

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Home to the Mountain

In Ronald Kidd’s new middle-grade novel, a boy’s journey leads to understanding

Ronald Kidd’s new middle-grade novel, Lord of the Mountain, is set in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927—the time and place of country music’s “big bang.” Kidd will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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The Darkness at the Door

Brantley Hargrove tells the story of a storm-chasing, tornado-catching legend

Tim Samaras, writes Brantley Hargrove in The Man Who Caught the Storm, “accomplished meteorology’s equivalent to the moon landing.” Hargrove will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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Blood on the Tracks

Colson Whitehead constructs an alternate route out of American slavery in The Underground Railroad

In Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, fugitive slaves are spirited away to freedom by an actual network of trains.  The Underground Railroad is the 2018 Memphis Reads selection. Whitehead will discuss the novel at Christian Brothers University on September 5 and at Rhodes College on September 6. Both events are free and open to the public.

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My Work is Done

In Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels, a dying patriarch gathers his family

Big Angel de la Cruz, protagonist of Luis Alberto Urrea’s The House of Broken Angels, is dying and hopes to make peace with his family before he dies. Urrea will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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