Chapter 16 - Part 330

War on Words

Violent extremists kidnap a newspaper columnist in Grant Park, a new novel by Leonard Pitts Jr.

By Peggy Burch | November 11, 2015

November 11, 2015 In Leonard Pitts Jr.’s new novel, Grant Park, a newspaper columnist in Chicago who crusades for racial justice is kidnapped by white supremacists on the morning of President Barack Obama’s first election. Pitts, a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald, will appear in Memphis, where many of the novel’s historic scenes are set, at 6 p.m. on November 19, 2015, at Crosstown Arts.

In The Wake of History

In Golden Age, the culmination of Jane Smiley’s Last Hundred Years Trilogy, America’s past catches up to the present

By Sean Kinch | November 10, 2015

November 10, 2015 The first two volumes of Jane Smiley’s Last One Hundred Years trilogy cover 1920-1986, as reflected through the lives of an Iowa family. In Golden Age, the final installment of the series, Smiley takes readers through the heady ‘90s, the shaky aughts, and the present decade, finally offering a disturbing glimpse into the near future. Smiley will discuss her new novel at the Nashville Public Library on November 18, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.

All the Lost Things

Rock legend Patti Smith returns to the page with an elegiac new memoir, M Train

By Ed Tarkington | November 9, 2015

November 9, 2015 In 2010, rock icon Patti Smith won a National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids, a chronicle of her early years in New York City and her relationship with fine-art photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Now Smith returns with M Train, a haunting, elegiac meditation on the challenges of translating memory into art. Smith will appear at OZ Arts Nashville on November 13, 2015, at 7 p.m.

Followed by Evil

Dana Chamblee Carpenter’s debut novel is a dark tale of thirteenth-century Bohemia

By Faye Jones | November 6, 2015

November 6, 2015 Winner of Killer Nashville’s 2014 Claymore Award, Dana Chamblee Carpenter’s debut novel is a tale of medieval Bohemia that contains familiar themes of love, death, and religion combined in unfamiliar ways. Carpenter will discuss Bohemian Gospel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 15, 2015, at 2 p.m. and at Star Line Books in Chattanooga on November 21 at 2 p.m.

Sun of the South

Peter Guralnick delivers a thorough, affectionate biography of Sam Phillips, “the man who invented rock ‘n’ roll”

By Aram Goudsouzian | November 5, 2015

November 5, 2015 Peter Guralnick’s Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll not only recounts the musical titans who passed through Sun Records but also explores the ideas and experiences of its iconoclastic hero. Guralnick will discuss the book at the Brooks Museum in Memphis on November 11, 2015, at 7 p.m. and at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville on November 14, 2015, at 1:30 p.m.

Power to the (Youngest) People

Chelsea Clinton talks with Chapter 16 about It’s Your World, her inspiring new book for middle-grade readers

By Beth Waltemath | November 4, 2015

November 4, 2015 Chelsea Clinton’s first memory of reading was of scouring the newspaper to keep up with her parents’ conversations. Her new book, It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going, is a resource for kids who are beginning to care passionately about the people, animals, and places in this world. Clinton will appear at the Nashville Public Library on November 11, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher