Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Flickering Images of Truth and Lies

The ambiguous nature of cinema lies at the dark heart of Marisha Pessl’s second novel

September 5, 2013 In Night Film, Marisha Pessl convincingly imagines the duplicitous world of a movie director named Stanislas Cordova, whose infamous films terrorize viewers. In this novel loaded with deception, misperception, and outright terror, the mysterious death of Cordova’s daughter propels a journalist into the dark corners of movies and the human mind. Pessl will appear at the Nashville Public Library at 6:15 p.m. on September 12, 2013, as part of the Salon@615 series.

Read more

A Writing Conference to Sink Your Teeth Into

A new conference at MTSU will feature writers of many genres and a keynote speech by Kevin Wilson, author of The Family Fang

September 4, 2013 On September 28, 2013, The Writer’s Loft at MTSU in Murfreesboro will sponsor a new opportunity for aspiring writers in the mid-state: the first annual Middle Tennessee Writers’ Conference. Celebrated novelist Kevin Wilson will give the keynote address, and other speakers booked for the day-long event include nonfiction writer Holly Tucker, poet Bill Brown, fiction writer Linda Busby Parker, and playwright Claudia Barnett. Registration is open to the public through September 10.

Read more

A Town Defined By Violence

In Daniel Woodrell’s The Maid’s Version, the Ozarks are beset by mayhem

September 3, 2013 Daniel Woodrell’s characters live in a dangerous world. In Woodrell’s new novel, The Maid’s Version, scenes of casual cruelty follow passages of sexual abuse and bloody bar fights. Woodrell will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Read more

A Daughter’s Dreams

Novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt explores the difficulties and promises for a young girl and her troubled mother in a new country

August 30, 2013 Just when the American dream seems within reach for fourteen-year-old Lucia, her mother’s old demons threaten their new life. Knoxvillian Pamela Schoenewaldt will discuss the immigrant experience and her latest novel, Swimming in the Moon, at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville on September 5, 2013, and at the 25th annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13.

Read more

Fatherly Advice

Beloved novelist Clyde Edgerton talks with Chapter 16 about the arts of parenting and writing

August 29, 2013 Since the publication of his first novel, Raney, in 1985, Clyde Edgerton has been among the South’s most admired comic novelists. With Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers, Edgerton turns his dry wit toward the art of fatherhood, with unsurprisingly sidesplitting results. Clyde Edgerton will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Read more

Flooded Hearts

Cary Holladay writes bold stories about northern Virginia’s river valleys

August 28, 2013 The short stories in Cary Holladay’s The Deer in the Mirror may be set mostly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but there is nothing staid or dated about them. Holladay will discuss the collection at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on September 5, 2013, at 5:30 p.m., and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. Both events are free and open to the public.

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