For Congressman Jim Cooper, the cure to this year’s political demagoguery is a good dose of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men
May 13, 2016 In the first of a nine-essay series commemorating the centennial year of the Pulitzer Prizes, U.S. Representative Jim Cooper reflects on the political relevance of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947.
With his fifth novel, John Hart proves once again that “literary thriller” is not an oxymoron
May 12, 2016 Redemption Road proves once again that John Hart is a master of the literary thriller. His flawed and haunted characters must work in the shadows of modern-day North Carolina to find their way to salvation. Hart will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 19, 2016, at 6:30 pm.
Anton DiSclafani’s The After Party follows the tangled friendship of two women among Houston’s social elite
May 11, 2016 Set among Houston’s glamorous oil-industry elites during the 1950s, Anton DiSclafani’s The After Party follows two young women—one conventional, one rebellious—who are locked in a complex lifelong friendship. DiSclafani will discuss The After Party at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 17, at 6:30 p.m.
With Prayers the Devil Answers Sharyn McCrumb offers another compelling Appalachian novel
May 10, 2016 In Prayers the Devil Answers Sharyn McCrumb once again recreates the time, place, and people of her Appalachian homeland. McCrumb will discuss her new novel at free public events in Johnson City, Knoxville, and Nashville.
In Jennifer Haigh’s new novel, Heat and Light, energy companies choose profits over safety
May 9, 2016 With Heat and Light, Jennifer Haigh joins the grand American tradition of the social-protest novel. Like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Upton Sinclair, and John Steinbeck before her, she wields a quixotic sword against corporate corruption and malfeasance—in this case, fracking. Haigh will read from Heat and Light at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 12, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.
May 9, 2016 Luann Landon’s first book of poems, South Bound, is a collection of verse narratives about the American South. Earlier poems have appeared in Measure, Sewanee Theological Review, Cumberland Poetry Review, The Tennessee Quarterly, and others. Her memoir-cookbook, Dinner at Miss Lady’s, was published by Algonquin in 1999. A Nashville native, Landon now lives in Sewanee. She will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 10, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.
