Motherless Child
“A Haunting of My Own Name”
Damaged Goods
Both in and out of Place
The Best-Laid Plans
Chapter 16
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A Vision of Redemption

In Zion, poet TJ Jarrett explores the fierce possibilities of love and forgiveness

By Maria Browning |

September 19, 2014 The poems in TJ Jarrett’s stunning second collection, Zion, are shaped by the desire to summon mercy and forgiveness in the face of terrible wrong, and they celebrate, without a trace of sentimentality, the sustaining power of love. TJ Jarrett will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 26, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. and again at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

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Officially a Genius

Poet-translator Khaled Mattawa has won a MacArthur grant

By Margaret Renkl |

September 19, 2014 Let’s just go ahead and call 2014 Khaled Mattawa’s year: in January he was appointed chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and now he has been named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. What this most recent honor means in lay terms: Mattawa has just won a $625,000 “genius” grant.

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The Story That Takes Hold

Ishmael Beah writes lyrically in Radiance of Tomorrow about a village recovering from the horrors of war

By Michael Ray Taylor |

September 18, 2014 In 2007, Ishmael Beah received widespread praise for his memoir, A Long Way Gone, a troubling account of his life as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. In his first novel, Radiance of Tomorrow, Beah lyrically explores a village much like his own as it struggles toward normal life after a wartime massacre. Beah will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12. All festival events are free and open to the public.

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One Tough Broad

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York writes an exceptionally honest new book about her path to politics and the issues women face

By Liz Garrigan |

September 17, 2014 Kirsten Gillibrand is only the sixth—the sixth—woman in history to give birth while serving in Congress, and though she has unfortunately few peers, she gets the challenges facing contemporary women. Her new book, Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World, is a call to arms urging women to get involved and change the outcome on issues important to them. Gillibrand will discuss her book at a ticketed event at Belmont University’s McAfee Concert Hall on September 20, 2014, at 1:30 p.m.

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Ugly Magic

In John Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van, a disfigured young man struggles with his demons

By Sean Kinch |

September 16, 2014 With Wolf in White Van, John Darnielle, singer and lyricist for The Mountain Goats, has produced an LP of a novel that delves into the damaged psyche of a disfigured young man who retreats into a role-playing game he has invented, a fantasy world where he—and others—can feel safe. Darnielle will discuss Wolf in White Van at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 24, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

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A Weighty Biography

Carol Bradley traces the life of a circus elephant brutally abused for two decades before finally finding peace at Hohenwald’s Elephant Sanctuary

By Liz Garrigan |

September 12, 2014 Carol Bradley’s meticulously researched new book, Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top, is a heartrending biography of an Asian elephant brutalized for decades. But it is also a history of the perverse form of entertainment known as the circus. Carol Bradley will discuss Last Chain on Billie at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on September 19, 2014, at 6 p.m., at I Love Books in Kingsport on September 20, 2014, at 1 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

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