Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Whole of a Life

Bobbie Ann Mason gives her heroine a second life in Dear Ann

…for an imagined alternative: Stanford University, in sun-glazed California. Mason drives us down a Route 66 of fantasy, back to the Summer of Love, marijuana brownies and be-ins, the Beatles…

Lucille’s Better Half

Blues legend B.B. King gets the royal treatment from biographer Daniel de Visé

…King B.B. King, who died in 2015 at age 89, gets the royal treatment from his biographer, and rightly so. We get it all, a life in full, from dirt…

A Larger Suitcase

Rickie Lee Jones recalls her family and career in Last Chance Texaco

…icon.” I spoke to the legendary pop savant ahead of her virtual event with the 2021 Southern Festival of Books. Jones always meant for her memoir to be, as she…

Interludes of Fulfillment

Nichole Perkins explores themes of identity, liberation, and belonging

…demonstrates a remarkable skill in narrating her own life through the lens of pop culture. For instance, she contrasts her familial milieu with Janet Jackson’s musical career: “As my parents’…

Too Big and Too Loud and Too Much

A hilarious and poignant YA novel about finding your place in the world

…a dragon curled around each shoulder.” Second, Star is a social media influencer with 900,000 virtual followers. She’s a Christian model whose brand is purity. “That’s why she loves it…

As the Story Goes

Kathi Appelt delivers an epic tale of camels, kestrels, and the power of stories

…Southern Festival of Books visit. Yours will be virtual, yes? Appelt: I don’t have all the details yet, but yes, mine will be virtual. Alas! I miss being present, in…

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