Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Ethnic Identity Theft

In Joshua Ferris’s To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, cyber-stalking leads to personal revelation

March 4, 2015 The new novel by Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, tells the story of a Manhattan dentist, Paul O’Rourke, whose practice is in perfect working order but whose personal life is an unqualified mess. Ferris will appear at Salon@615 at 6:15 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library on March 10, 2015. The salon is a free, ticketed event.

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Terror in Tuscaloosa

In What Stands in a Storm, Kim Cross recounts the deadly tornado outbreak of 2011

March 3, 2015 With all the drama and heroism of a Hollywood action thriller, journalist Kim Cross follows the unrelenting march of a line of killer tornados that crossed the American South on April 27, 2011, killing 324 people. Cross will discuss What Stands in a Storm at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 13, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on March 14, 2015, at 3 p.m.

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Students of Reinvention

In Holly LeCraw’s The Half Brother, a Southern teacher seeks reinvention in a New England boarding school

March 2, 2015 In Holly LeCraw’s The Half Brother, Atlanta-raised Charlie Garrett arrives at his teaching post in a wealthy New England boarding school seeking reinvention. When he falls into a powerful entanglement with his school’s chaplain, Charlie finds himself pulled closer into the strong orbit of his own past. Holly LeCraw will discuss The Half Brother at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 9, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

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“In 1814 We Took a Little Trip”

Archivist Tom Kanon examines Tennessee’s role in the War of 1812

February 27, 2015 The nearly forgotten War of 1812, with the related Creek War, made Andrew Jackson a hero and launched Tennessee to national prominence. In Tennesseans at War, 1812 – 1815: Andrew Jackson, the Creek War, and the Battle of New Orleans, state archivist Tom Kanon details the causes, facets, and consequences of a fight that should be more remembered.

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Restless Cravings

With Into the Savage Country, Shannon Burke delivers a grand adventure in the tradition of Jack London

February 26, 2015 Set in the Wild West of the early nineteenth century, Shannon Burke’s new historical novel, Into the Savage Country, is a deftly written novel of love and adventure that evokes the classic tales of Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson. Burke will appear at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville on March 5, 2015, at 7 p.m. in an event sponsored by the Knoxville Writer’s Guild. On April 6, 2015, at 7 p.m., he will give a reading at the John C. Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville as part of the Writers in the Library series.

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Passion, Precision, and Wit

John Jeremiah Sullivan takes home the 2015 Windham Campbell Literature Prize for nonfiction—and $150,000

February 26, 2015 Sewanee grad John Jeremiah Sullivan has already won two National Magazine Awards, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and a Pushcart Prize. Now he’s added a new title to his list of accolades: the 2015 Windham Campbell Literature Prize for nonfiction.

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