Chapter 16 - Part 357

A Literary Reunion

The Celebration of Southern Literature brings many of the South’s finest writers to Chattanooga

By Maria Browning | March 23, 2015

March 23, 2015 The Fellowship of Southern Writers—a group that includes luminaries like Bobbie Ann Mason, Ron Rash, and Natasha Trethewey—will gather in Chattanooga April 16-18, 2015, for the Celebration of Southern Literature, an event that is part writers’ conference, part book festival, and part homecoming for a diverse group of authors who share a connection to the region. Tickets to the biennial event are available now.

Light, Community, and Motion

Charlotte Pence’s poetry collection examines the parallels between ecology and mental illness

By Erica Wright | March 20, 2015

March 20, 2015 In her new poetry collection, Many Small Fires, Charlotte Pence writes about her father’s schizophrenia through the lens of ecology. Pence will read with Adam Prince on March 26, 2015, at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville; with Adam Day on March 27, 2015, at Belmont University in Nashville; and with Bradford Tice on March 30, 2015, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. All events are free and open to the public.

"Cast-Offs"

By Charlotte Pence | March 20, 2015

March 20, 2015Charlotte Pence is a poet and critic who received her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Tennessee. The author of two chapbooks, she has just published her first full-length collection, Many Small Fires. Pence will read with Adam Prince on March 26, 2015, at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville; with Adam Day on March 27, 2015, at Belmont University in Nashville; and with Bradford Tice on March 30, 2015, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. All events are free and open to the public.

Marching On

The graphic trilogy March, Congressman John Lewis’s memoir of the American civil-rights movement, continues with a focus on Nashville’s Freedom Riders

By Michael Ray Taylor | March 19, 2015

March 19, 2015 Impressive artwork by Nate Powell, a gripping story by Andrew Aydin, and an eyewitness view of history from U.S. Representative John Lewis combine flawlessly in March: Book Two, the second volume of Lewis’s graphic memoir of the American civil-rights movement. This installment highlights Lewis’s Nashville-based efforts to launch Freedom Riders onto segregated bus lines throughout the South.

Coal Noir

Jason Miller explores the bleak wilds of coal country in Down Don’t Bother Me, a darkly comic take on the hardboiled detective genre

By Ed Tarkington | March 18, 2015

March 18, 2015 Jason Miller’s debut crime novel, Down Don’t Bother Me, is a clever variation on Raymond Chandler-style noir with the blue-collar soul of Chris Offutt and the wry black humor of Tom Waits. Miller will give a reading at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 6:30 p.m. on March 24, 2015, and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis at 6:30 p.m. on March 31.

Love, Survival, and the Power of the Press

LaShonda Katrice Barnett’s Jam on the Vine tells the story of a young black journalist in the Jim Crow era

By Maria Browning | March 17, 2015

March 17, 2014 Ivoe Williams, the heroine of LaShonda Katrice Barnett’s debut novel, Jam on the Vine, is an African-American girl born in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Texas to poor, hardworking parents. The story of Ivoe’s trials and triumphs as an aspiring journalist provides a vivid depiction of the black experience during one of the ugliest periods in American history. Barnett will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 23, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker