Cormac McCarthy made his name and fame in the West, but his most enduring character was Knoxville river rat Cornelius Suttree.
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Desolation Rowboat
Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree teems with heartbreak, humor, and stunning prose
Fools in Love
Lovesick Blossoms highlights queer romance in the South
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Julia Watts’ latest novel, Lovesick Blossoms, nestles the reader in the 1953 university culture of Kentucky and the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals trying to juggle public and private personas. Watts will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.
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The Good-Heartedness Never Leaves
George Singleton brings his gift for storytelling to the essays in Asides
In the introduction to his essay collection, Asides, George Singleton writes, “There happen to be some great essayists. I don’t count myself in this group.” Readers who dive into this lovely slim book full of dogs, writing advice, and summer jobs will disagree.
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In the Presence of the Unseen
Poet Jane Hicks uncovers hidden worlds in The Safety of Small Things
Throughout East Tennessee poet Jane Hicks’ stunning new collection, The Safety of Small Things, the unseen elements of our lives reveal themselves in vibrant, insistent ways. With masterful discernment, Hicks enables us to sense the many-layered truths contained in each moment and to marvel at their resonance.
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In Praise of Regulation
Ganesh Sitaraman explains how to fix flying
Anyone who relies on the airline industry to get where they need to go can tell stories about delays, cancellations, shrinking storage space, and general dissatisfaction with the entire process. Vanderbilt University professor Ganesh Sitaraman spells out the remedy for this state of affairs in Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It.
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“Steve’s Short-Sleeve Shirt”
Book Excerpt: Obama’s Children
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Earl S. Braggs is a UC Foundation and Battle Professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His awards include the International Jack Kerouac Literary Prize and the Anhinga Poetry Prize. Obama’s Children is his 15th collection of poetry.
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