Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Maria Browning

Time Travel with McCarthy

An outdoor homage to Suttree and Knoxville’s past

On July 8 at Knoxville’s Lakeshore Park, “Suttree’s Knoxville: A Hymn to the Past in Film & Music” will combine live music, readings from Cormac McCarthy’s novel Suttree, and a film of archival footage to evoke a sense of the city as it was 70 years ago.

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The Spaces Between People

Corey Mesler shares a few thoughts on antiheroes, privacy, and prolificity

Memphis author and bookstore owner Corey Mesler talks to Chapter 16 about his latest novel and the challenges of running a small business during the pandemic.

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Eternal Questions, Evolving Answers

Alan Lightman explores the limits of knowledge in Probable Impossibilities

Alan Lightman’s latest essay collection, Probable Impossibilities is a mix of cutting-edge science, philosophical reflection, and storytelling that celebrates rational inquiry while respecting experiences of mystery and awe.

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Violence, love, and animals

Colin Dayan discusses the obsessions that shape her work

Colin Dayan’s Animal Quintet, as the title suggests, is an ensemble of short compositions, each with an animal motif. The collection is a potent mix of memoir and meditation, tender dreams and nightmares.

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The Glorious Pastime: Indya Kincannon

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon loves biographies and My Brilliant Friend

Indya Kincannon arrived in Knoxville in 2001, a self-described “trailing spouse” who relocated for her husband’s job. Today she’s the city’s mayor, committed to “creating and spreading opportunity to all parts of Knoxville.” Mayor Kincannon, a longtime education advocate and former teacher, shares a bit of her reading life with Chapter 16 via our Glorious Pastime questionnaire.

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Another Way to Be

Michael Ian Black makes the case for a new masculinity in A Better Man

Michael Ian Black’s A Better Man is a tender, funny, hopeful book, conceived as a letter to his 18-year-old son. Through a mix of memoir, comic commentary, and fatherly advice, Black makes the case against the cultural pressures that harm men, from impossible ideals of strength and independence to damaging rhetoric about toxic masculinity. Black will appear at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

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