Charles K. Wolfe’s A Good-Natured Riot tells the tale of an American icon’s infancy
January 15, 2016 A Good-Natured Riot, Charles K. Wolfe’s classic history of the Grand Ole Opry’s early years, delivers an engaging and essential history of an almost forgotten era in country music. The book, originally released in 1999, is now available in paperback.
A clever early-reader series sets sail in Jessica Young’s All Paws On Deck
January 14, 2016 The first early-reader chapter book by Nashville-based children’s author Jessica Young, Haggis and Tank Unleashed—All Paws on Deck, is a funny romp and clever introduction to the playful side of language. Parnassus Books in Nashville will host a launch party for the series on January 15, 2016.
Former rocker Freda Love Smith teaches her son to cook—and writes a splendid memoir along the way
January 13, 2016 A gritty rock club and a modest home kitchen might seem like opposite ends of the earth. But in Freda Love Smith’s new book, Red Velvet Underground, the two are deliciously twined. A memoir seasoned with recipes, this story charts the coming of age of both mother and child as Smith teaches her teenage son how to cook. Smith will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 19, 2016.
Human traffickers bring harsh reality to a bachelor party in Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel
January 12, 2016 Chris Bohjalian’s new novel, The Guest Room, brings the violence of the international sex trade to a well-to-do New York suburb, as a bachelor party becomes the scene of a bid for freedom by two young women held by Russian mobsters. Bohjalian will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis January 13, 2016.
Brad Meltzer talks with Chapter 16 about his new children’s biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
January 11, 2016 Today bestselling author Brad Meltzer talks about his biography series for children, Ordinary People Change the World. The latest book in the series is about the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
There once was a Pulitzer Prize-winner who wrote poems about the working-class people most writers never notice
January 8, 2016 When Philip Levine gave a poetry reading at Vanderbilt, the room was packed. But in his introduction to the event, Vereen Bell bypassed entirely the impressive literary credentials of the Pulitzer Prize-winner. He told, instead, the story of the Burger Bitch, how he had started talking with her one day as she went about her trash-dumping duties.
