A unique writers’ group in Memphis has produced a book of first-hand accounts of homelessness
January 23, 2015 The Door of Hope Writing Group in Memphis is a weekly meet-up for homeless writers. The nonprofit’s new project, Writing Our Way Home: A Group Journey Out of Homelessness, chronicles both the hard times and big breakthroughs of writers living on the street.
Edward B. McCaul Jr. examines the Civil War struggle for control of the Mississippi River
January 22, 2015 To Retain Command of the Mississippi is Edward McCaul’s thorough look at everything—strategy, politics, personnel, boats, technology, and battles—connected with the campaign to establish control of the Mississippi during the first two years of the Civil War. McCaul argues that the river battle at Memphis could have gone the other way, with consequences that might have led to Confederate independence.
Rivendell Writers’ Colony in Sewanee offers writers—and readers—a beautiful respite from the day-to-day world
January 21, 2015 Writers’ retreats can be powerful incubators for novels, stories, and poems, allowing writers to immerse themselves in their work, free from the distractions of daily life. Rivendell Writers’ Colony, in Sewanee, is the first of its kind in Tennessee, and word of its particular magic is beginning to travel.
Novelist Jonathan Miles talks with Chapter 16 about comedy and philosophy in fiction
January 20, 2015 Jonathan Miles has a gift for transforming life’s base materials into literary gold. His novels, Dear American Airlines (2008) and Want Not (2013), address dark, potentially dispiriting themes with a deft, comedic touch. Miles will give a free public reading at the University of Tennessee’s John C. Hodges Library in Knoxville on January 26, 2015, at 7 p.m.
January 16, 2015 Bridgette Bates’s poems have appeared in Boston Review, Fence, jubilat, VERSE, and elsewhere. The recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a “Discovery” Prize, she is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Originally from Nashville, she lives in Los Angeles where she writes for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and is a features contributor to Kirkus Reviews. She will read from her new collection, What Is Not Missing is Light, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 22, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
Sharon M. Draper crafts a tale of community, family, and courage in the Jim Crow South
January 15, 2015 Eleven-year-old Stella Mills has always felt safe in the embrace of her family and community. But Stella feels helpless during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan—until she finds a way to help. Sharon Draper, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, will discuss her new middle-grade novel, Stella by Starlight, at the Nashville Public Library on January 22, 2015, at 6 p.m. and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 23, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
