Chapter 16 - Part 445

Killer Kickoff

There’s still time to sign up for the Killer Nashville conference, which takes place this weekend

By Tom Markham | August 23, 2012

August 23, 2012 Killer Nashville, a yearly “Conference for Thriller, Suspense, and Mystery Writers and Literature Lovers” begins today at the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville. Registration is still available for this conference that, “Unlike other conferences and seminars… offers five different learning tracks for those with varied interests and experience levels: a Writing Track, a Publishing Track, a Career Management & Promotion Track, a Forensic Track, and a Fan Track,” according to its website.

A Casual Gathering

Ann Patchett will share the stage with J.K. Rowling in New York City this fall

By Tom Markham | August 23, 2012

August 23, 2012 Entertainment Weekly said it best: “Does this sound like the best book club meeting ever?” In a recent post on its “Book Shelf” blog, the publication announced that J.K. Rowling will make a rare U.S. appearance to promote her new novel, The Casual Vacancy.

Can you guess who will be speaking alongside Rowling on the stage at New York City’s Lincoln Center?

Catching the Playhouse Killer

Jeff Crook’s debut thriller is a hard-boiled Memphis crime novel—with ghosts

By Lyda Phillips | August 23, 2012

August 23, 2012 Jeff Crook spins up a maelstrom of exotic characters and macabre events in The Sleeping and the Dead, the first in what looks to be a powerful paranormal mystery series. Crook will read from The Sleeping and the Dead on August 30 at 6 p.m. at The Booksellers in Laurelwood in Memphis.

A Father’s Journey

Journalist Buzz Bissinger shares a haunting, intimate account of his quest to know his special-needs son

By Michael Ray Taylor | August 22, 2012

August 22, 2012 In Buzz Bissinger’s Father’s Day: A Journey into the Mind & Heart of My Extraordinary Son a ten-day road trip across America is the backdrop for a haunting and brutally honest account of a father’s struggle to understand the adult his special-needs child has become. Bissinger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Friday Night Lights, presents an unforgettable portrait of his son Zach, a cognitively disabled man in his mid-twenties who speaks in nonstop non sequiturs, can name and give the birthday of every person he has ever met, and memorizes maps so accurately that his family refers to him as a “human GPS.” Bissinger will discuss Father’s Day at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

A Human Thing of Mystery

In his new book, Daniel Woodrell has written a dozen heart-breaking stories of love, death, and revenge

By Lyda Phillips | August 21, 2012

August 21, 2012 Daniel Woodrell, the acclaimed author of Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, and The Death of Sweet Mister, has published a slim volume of short stories every bit as gritty and searing as his longer work. Woodrell will read from and discuss The Outlaw Album at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

The Child Inside

In a new essay for the Potomac Review, Bill Brown describes one thing he’s learned from poetry

By Margaret Renkl | August 21, 2012

August 21, 2012 In an essay for the Potomac Review called “One Thing I’ve Learned,” Nashville poet Bill Brown explains the spiritual value of keeping an open heart, of remaining tuned to wonder:

Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones

By Dolly Parton with Holly George-Warren, curated by Rebecca Seaver
Ten Speed Press
336 pages
$50

“Featuring behind-the-scenes stories from Dolly Parton’s life and career, and the largest reveal of her private costume archive, this gorgeously photographed book spotlights her most unforgettable looks from the 1960s to now.”

~ the publisher