Chapter 16 - Part 447

The Question We Ask Over And Over

With Y, debut novelist Marjorie Celona offers a vivid account of a foundling’s journey

By Ed Tarkington | January 22, 2013

January 22, 2013 “We get what we’re given. Nothing more, nothing less,” writes Marjorie Celona in her debut novel, Y. This terse, stoic observation captures Celona’s ethos as a storyteller. Y limns the lives of Shannon, an infant abandoned on the steps of the YMCA, and Yula, the abused and traumatized teenage mother who leaves her there. Moving back and forth in time, the novel follows the events leading up to the birth and Shannon’s frequently harrowing journey through the foster-care system. Through it all, Shannon waits for the chance to find her birth parents and ask the titular question, “Why?” Celona will discuss and sign copies of Y at Parnassus Books on January 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Sepetys's Second Outing

The big YA book for spring this year looks to be Ruta Sepetys’s second historical novel for teens

By Margaret Renkl | January 22, 2013

January 22, 2013 In 2010, during the weeks leading up to the publication of Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys racked up a perfect set of starred reviews, one from each of the four pre-publication review sites used by the bookselling industry to make ordering decisions.

A Bollingen Prize for Wright

Charles Wright wins yet another premier poetry prize

By Margaret Renkl | January 22, 2013

January 22, 2013 Yale University today announced that Charles Wright, a native of Pickwick Dam, Tennessee, has won the 2013 Bollingen Prize for his poetry collection, Bye-and-Bye: Selected Late Poems. The prize, one of the most prestigious given poets, is awarded every other year and carries a stipend of $150,000.

Vandy Expanding

Lorrie Moore is set to join the faculty of the Vanderbilt creative-writing program

By Margaret Renkl | January 18, 2013

January 18, 2013 Vanderbilt University’s graduate program in creative writing—already the single most selective M.F.A. program in the country—just drafted a powerhouse: Lorrie Moore, a widely acknowledged master of short fiction and winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story, the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the art of the short story, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, has accepted a new endowed chair and will join the Vanderbilt faculty in the fall.

Everything You Know about Pit Bulls is Wrong

Ken Foster’s new book aims to change hearts and minds about the much maligned bully breeds

By Lyda Phillips | January 17, 2013

January 17, 2012 Ken Foster—photographer, writer, reader, and dog lover—is on a mission to reverse the bad rap on pit bulls. I’m a Good Dog: Pit Bulls, America’s Most Beautiful (and Misunderstood) Pet is his homage to the dog made famous by both Petey of The Little Rascals and the tortured animals rescued from Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring. Foster will discuss the book at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 24 at 6 p.m., and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 26 at 2 p.m.

Coming Out of the Shadows

In This Fragile Life, Vanderbilt professor Charlotte Pierce-Baker recounts her family’s long struggle with her son’s mental illness

By Maria Browning | January 16, 2013

January 16, 2013 Vanderbilt professor Charlotte Pierce-Baker didn’t understand what was happening to her bright, creative son when he first began to behave erratically. As rages, delusions, and substance abuse made his illness obvious, Pierce-Baker and her husband struggled to help him. In This Fragile Life: A Mother’s Story of a Bipolar Son, Pierce-Baker recounts the family’s long ordeal and her journey to understanding that “bipolar is forever.” Charlotte Pierce-Baker will read from the book at Vanderbilt University on January 17 at 7 p.m. in Wilson Hall, Room 126. The event is free and open to the public.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker