Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Taken at the Flood

In We Are Water, Wally Lamb unwinds the tangled threads that hold families together through fire and flood

Wally Lamb’s fifth novel, We Are Water, is a testament to the fact that families can survive almost anything thrown at them—murder, abuse, abandonment—if love remains. Lamb will appear in conversation with songwriter Mary Gautier on March 11 at Green Door Gourmet in Nashville in a benefit event for the Porch Writers’ Collective. 

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Dog’s Best Friend

In Gizelle’s Bucket List, Lauren Fern Watt takes her dying mastiff on an epic adventure

In Gizelle’s Bucket List, the touching story of an unlikely duo who tackle life together, Lauren Fern Watt remembers the six magical years she shared with a giant English mastiff. Watt will discuss her debut memoir at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 11 at 2 p.m.

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A Young Reader’s Dream Come True

The Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival gives students first access to authors

The Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival—or SE-YA—will draw thousands of readers to the Middle Tennessee State University campus in Murfreesboro on March 11 for an all-ages celebration of reading and writing that features appearances by more than forty children’s and YA authors. The event is free and open to the public.

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A Glowing Review

Lynn Frierson Faust shares her passion for bioluminescent beetles—a.k.a. lightning bugs

Lynn Frierson Faust’s new book, Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs, is an accessible, beautiful, and comprehensive guide to fireflies and their cousins. Faust will discuss her work at the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society in Oak Ridge on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and Union Ave. Books will be on hand for book purchases.

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Freedom from the Ordinary

Maggie Shipstead’s Astonish Me illuminates the ballet world’s relentless pursuit of perfection

The ballet dancers in Maggie Shipstead’s novel, Astonish Me, are engaged in a daily war against their mortal limitations. Shipstead will discuss Astonish Me at the John C. Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on March 6 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

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Undertow

Michael Knight’s Eveningland centers on life in and around Mobile Bay

Eveningland, the new collection of linked stories by Knoxville writer Michael Knight, focuses closely on the lives of affluent families in and around Mobile Bay. Knight will discuss Eveningland at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on March 7 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 8.

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