Chapter 16 - Part 33

Writing the Body

Award-winning poet Beth Bachmann discusses her work—and the way her sister’s violent death affects it

By Maria Browning | April 28, 2010

April 28, 2010 In her first collection, Temper, poet Beth Bachmann grapples with the horror and mystery of violent death. The book’s powerful, carefully crafted poems earned her critical raves and the 2008 Donald Hall Prize for Poetry. This spring, Bachmann also won the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award, given each year to “a first book by a poet of genuine promise.” Bachmann answered questions from Chapter 16 in anticipation of the award ceremony in Pasadena on April 28.

Competing Narratives

Don’t expect celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley to curtsy to Oprah—or Oprah to care

By Maria Browning | April 21, 2010

April 21, 2010 Celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, famous for her tell-all books on icons like Frank Sinatra, takes on what may be her greatest challenge: the life story of daytime talk queen—and former Nashvillian—Oprah Winfrey. The queen is not amused. Kelley will appear at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on April 23 at 7 p.m.

A Spirit That Passes Through

Novelist Madison Smartt Bell talks with Chapter 16 about the art and artists of Haiti

By Maria Browning | April 14, 2010

Madison Smartt Bell, author of three critically acclaimed novels about Haiti, as well as a biography of Haitian resistance hero Toussaint Louverture, is a longtime supporter of a group of artists there. In response to the earthquake last January, Bell has joined with Nashville’s LeQuire Gallery to display the work of these artists, with proceeds to benefit both the artists and Haitian-run humanitarian organizations. Bell answered questions from Chapter 16 prior to his talk at the gallery on April 15.

A Community Within a Community

Lee Dorman’s new collection of photographs documents the history of Nashville’s Jews

By Maria Browning | April 2, 2010

In Nashville’s Jewish Community, Lee Dorman has compiled more than 200 photographs from the Annette Levy Ratkin Jewish Community Archive, creating a visual chronicle of the city’s Jewish citizens from 1850 to 1950. Dorman will sign copies of his book at Barnes & Noble Bookseller in Brentwood on April 3 at 1 p.m.

Creating the Playground

Michael Martone talks about ruined cities, rewired culture, and collapsing categories

By Maria Browning | March 25, 2010

Michael Martone has made a literary career out of re-imagining the ordinary, from the landscape of his native Indiana to the college sweatshirt. In anticipation of his reading at APSU on March 31, he answers questions from Chapter 16 about his fascination with place, his relationship with readers, and whether there’s a need for more college creative-writing programs.

Entranced

Coleman Barks talks about his thirty-year fascination with the Sufi poet Rumi

By Maria Browning | March 3, 2010

Chattanooga native Coleman Barks has devoted more than three decades to translating the poems of Rumi, and in the process has turned the thirteenth-century mystic into one of the most popular poets in America. Prior to his visit to Austin Peay State University on March 4, Barks spoke with Chapter 16 about why so many contemporary American readers are entranced with an ancient Persian poet.

Distant Sons

Tim Johnston
Algonquin Books
400 pages
$29

“Tim Johnston has once again raised the bar for the literary thriller. Distant Sons is elegant and edgy, refined and complex. It excavates the truth from the darkest recesses of the past and shines a light towards the possibility of a redemptive future.”

~ Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women and Sing Her Down