Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Drawing the Mythic Out of the Commonplace

Tony Earley explores the perils of life’s second acts with the tender and raucous Mr. Tall

August 19, 2014 Since the publication of his first story collection some twenty years ago, Tony Earley has built a body of work defined by extraordinary insight into the comedy, pathos, and wonder of the commonplace. In his new collection, Mr. Tall, Earley widens the scope of his frequently hilarious, reliably lyrical stories. Earley will discuss Mr. Tall at Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 26, 2014, at 6:30 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

Read more

This Spiteful Old House

In Courtney Miller Santo’s new novel, a renovation project tests the limits of family ties

August 15, 2014 The locals call it “Spite House,” the structure at the center of Courtney Miller Santo’s new novel, Three Story House. Lizzie Linwood, granddaughter of the man who built the Memphis home to “spite” his brother, joins forces with her two cousins to renovate the dilapidated structure, exposing old wounds and revealing buried truths along the way. Courtney Miller Santo will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 19, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Read more

Behind the Quirks

Martha Woodroof explores the heartaches and hopes at a small fictional college

August 14, 2014 Martha Woodroof’s debut novel, Small Blessings, features a collection of eccentrics at a small women’s college in Virginia and examines the heartaches and hopes beneath their quirks. Woodroof will discuss Small Blessings at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on August 24, 2014, at 2 p.m., and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 25, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

Read more

Fun and Games and … Physics?

John Scieszka talks with Chapter 16 about his seriously entertaining new tale for young readers

August 13, 2014 Jon Scieszka, the author of more than fifty books for young readers, served as the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor is the first book in a new series focused on science whiz-kid Frank Einstein and his Grampa Al. Scieszka will appear at the Nashville Public Library on August 18, 2014; at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on August 19, 2014; and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 20, 2014.

Read more

With Every Shining Wish

Remembering poet Diann Blakely

August 11, 2014 Diann struggled with the legacy of being a Southern woman and poet, and I think she would have preferred to have been otherwise, perhaps a Boston Mandarin like her mentor, Helen Vendler. Confronting her heritage and making a conscious effort to be the poet she felt she ought to be are, I think, her most important achievements.

Read more

Diann Blakely, 1957-2014

Poet Diann Blakely has died after a long illness

August 11, 2014 “I should note that I don’t consider myself a literary critic,” Diann Blakely once wrote. “Rather, I am a passionate, studious, unfashionably earnest reader and an advocate for the books—especially books of poetry—I care deeply about.” These words could serve almost as a mission statement for Blakely’s entire life, which ended on August 5.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING