Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Scourge of War and the Perils of Peace

In The Thin Light of Freedom, Edward L. Ayers reconsiders the Civil War through two communities on opposite sides

With The Thin Light of Freedom, Edward L. Ayers casts new light on the Civil War through the experience of two communities—one Northern, one Southern—occupied by enemy armies made up of their former countrymen. Ayers will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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A Lavish Mural of 1970s Indulgence

I Will Be Complete is Glen David Gold’s unsparing account of growing up in the care of the Me Generation

Glen David Gold’s vibrant memoir, I Will Be Complete, tracks the 1970s, from fashion trends to punk bands, while probing psychic scars inflicted by his mother, a ravishing “Linda Evans”-like Englishwoman transplanted to the West Coast. Gold will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

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Where Reading is the Coolest Thing

Allison Varnes writes a cautionary tale about censorship for young readers

In Allison Varnes’s new middle-grade novel, Property of the Rebel Librarian, an unlikely hero defies her parents and her school to champion the right to read freely. Varnes will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on September 18.

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Chandeliers and Self-Discovery

Claire Fullerton’s new protagonist comes of age in 1970s Memphis

Set in 1970s Memphis, Claire Fullerton’s latest novel, Mourning Dove, captures its characters’ failing efforts to maintain Southern decorum in a swiftly changing world. Fullerton will appear at Novel in Memphis on September 11.

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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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