Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

“This Story is Not Yet Over”

Liquidation is under way at Memphis’s largest indie bookstore, but investors may rally to replace it

The Booksellers at Laurelwood is set to close in February, but the Memphis store’s landlord and other supporters say news of its death may be exaggerated.

Read more

A Dauntless Voyage

Veronica Roth moves her YA universe to deep space

In Carve the Mark, bestselling YA author Veronica Roth builds a universe around two teenagers who must confront their own identities. Roth will appear at the Nashville Children’s Theatre on January 20 at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $27.50 and include a signed copy of Carve the Mark.

Read more

Fate of a Friendship

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time looks at female love and cruelty

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time tells the story of a childhood friendship and grapples with themes of race, class, and gender. It transcends the personal without ever losing sight of human passion, embodied in the intense feelings between two little girls. Smith will appear at Belmont University in Nashville on January 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Read more

Cold Comfort

Tim Gautreaux’s new story collection draws tentative hope out of modern malaise

Tim Gautreaux’s wide-ranging new collection, Signals, expertly examines a variety of broken lives, speaking plainly of suffering but also offering glimpses of hope and redemption. He will discuss Signals at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 19, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 1.

Read more

Growing Up in Silence and Shame

Tayari Jones talks with Chapter 16 about the bigamous marriages at the heart of her acclaimed novel, Silver Sparrow

In Silver Sparrow, the third novel by Tayari Jones, two girls born four months apart share a father who is secretly married to both of their mothers. Jones will read Silver Sparrow at the Camp House in Chattanooga on January 19 at 6 p.m. The event, part of Chattanooga State Community Colleges Writers@Work initiative, is free and open to the public.

Read more

A Bookstore Phoenix?

The Booksellers at Laurelwood is closing, but hopes are high that another store will rise from its ashes

After thirty-two years in business, The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis has announced that it is closing. But readers in Memphis have good reason to hope the disaster can still be reversed.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING