December 5, 2012 “Many of the aspiring writers I know talk about writing more than they actually write,” writes novelist and playwright Silas House in a new essay for The New York Times. House—who two years ago left Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, to teach at Berea College in Kentucky—argues that “too many writers today are afraid to be still.”

December 5, 2012 Life changed for R.A. Dickey only a little more than two years ago. Longtime minor-leaguer finally hit the majors with a new pitch: the knuckleball. Since then, he has won the Cy Young Award, given annually to the best pitcher in the National League– another pitcher wins for the American League– as a member of the New York Mets. He scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. He was featured in the baseball documentary Knuckleball!.

December 3, 2012 This week, running counter to common perception that books are dead in the digital era, Parnassus Books in Nashville celebrates its first anniversary as a thriving success. Co-owned by former Random House rep Karen Hayes and bestselling novelist Ann Patchett, Parnassus has garnered widespread attention since its opening was announced in 2011, leading to Patchett’s appearances everywhere from Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report to the front page of The New York Times.