August 22, 2014 Jeff Hardin is the author of two collections of poetry: Fall Sanctuary, recipient of the Nicholas Roerich Prize, and Notes for a Praise Book. His third collection, Restoring the Narrative, received the Donald Justice Poetry Prize and will be published in 2015. He is professor of English at Columbia State Community College in Columbia, Tennessee. Hardin will give a free public reading at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville on August 28, 2014, at 6 p.m.
Critics applaud Richard Bausch’s Before, During, After
August 22, 2014 This week’s New York Times Book Review includes Before, During, After by former University of Memphis novelist Richard Bausch among its books of the week.
Rick Bragg talks with Chapter 16 about writing the epic tale of Jerry Lee Lewis
August 20, 2014 Since bursting onto the national scene in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis has lived a life as wild as his music. Drawing from extensive interviews with Lewis, author Rick Bragg tells an epic Southern tale of triumph and tragedy in Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story. Rick Bragg will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.
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.
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.
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.
