Chapter 16 - Part 25

A Confrontation with Relaxation

Against his better judgment, John Jeremiah Sullivan heads to the spa

By Emily Choate | November 9, 2012

November 9, 2012 Sewanee graduate and author of the acclaimed essay collection Pulphead John Jeremiah Sullivan has written a new essay about his reluctant adventures in massage and other spa treatments, which ranged from a biodynamic facial/massage to the application of Tibetan singing bowls. On assignment from The New York Times Magazine, where he is a contributing writer, Sullivan addresses his discomfort with being touched by strangers, only to be surprised by his response to the bodywork.

The Story of a Barn

On the sixtieth anniversary of its publication, Michael Sims talks with NPR about Charlotte’s Web

By Emily Choate | November 9, 2012

November 9, 2012 Crossville, Tennessee, native and author of such books as Adam’s Navel and Apollo’s Fire Michael Sims celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of E.B. White’s children’s classic Charlotte’s Web by sitting down with NPR to discuss White’s devotion to his beloved characters.

New Book from Falconer

Blas Falconer releases second poetry collection The Foundling Wheel

By Emily Choate | November 2, 2012

November 2, 2012 Four Way Books has released a new collection of poems from Blas Falconer, Coordinator for the Creative Writing Program at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. The Foundling Wheel is the second collection from Falconer, who has received an NEA Fellowship, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, and a Tennessee Individual Artist Grant.

Maraniss Heading to Vanderbilt

David Maraniss will teach at Vanderbilt University during the spring 2013 semester

By Emily Choate | October 30, 2012

October 30, 2012

Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss has been named Writer in Residence at the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons and the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University. Maraniss will co-teach two courses, Presidential Biographies and Reading and Writing about Sports in American Life. In a Vanderbilt press release, Maraniss says, “I’ll be focusing on subjects that obsess me—the art of biography, presidential politics and the sociology of sports.”

Joyful Mischief

Memphis writer Steve Stern earns praise for The Book of Mischief

By Emily Choate | October 19, 2012

October 19, 2012 Memphis native Steve Stern’s collection of new and selected short stories, The Book of Mischief, has received a warm review in The New York Times.

An Invitation to the Festival

A Nashville native celebrates the arrival of the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books

By Emily Choate | October 12, 2012

October 12, 2012 Beginning at noon today, Humanities Tennessee kicks off the literary event of the Nashville year. At the Southern Festival of Books, running through Sunday on Legislative Plaza, you’ll find readings, panel discussions, author signings, children’s programs, music, food, and a huge array of literary wares. With seven Pulitzer Prize-winners and thirty-six authors who have appeared on The New York Times bestseller list, this year’s slate of talent encompasses a lively mix of Southern and non-Southern writers alike. Before it all begins, Nashville native Emily Choate reflects on the literary high-wire act she has loved since high school.

Isabel and the Invisible World

By Alan Lightman, illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki
MIT Kids Press
40 pages
$18.99

“In simple, engaging language, complemented by luminous artwork from best-selling illustrator Ramona Kaulitzki, author and physicist Alan Lightman unveils the hidden world of light waves—the ones you can see and the ones you can’t.”

~ the publisher