August 10, 2012 In her first book, Magdalene House: A Place about Mercy Sarah VanHooser Suiter, writes about the “winding journey of healing and recovery” as she researched a residential community in Nashville for women with histories of addiction and prostitution. The women of Magdalene House envision “the world that could be,” Suiter writes: “a place where people love without judgment, care for their neighbors, support one another regardless of circumstance, and defend human dignity.” Sarah VanHooser Suiter will discuss Magdalene House 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.

August 9, 2012 A.J. Jacobs is “okay looking ridiculous as long as there’s a chance it will lead to something interesting or insightful.” In fact he’s the kind of writer for whom virtually every experience leads to something interesting—and very, very funny. Jacobs is the author of The Know-It-All, for which he read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Year of Living Biblically, in which he spent a year living by the literal prohibitions of the Bible, including stoning adulterers (with pebbles). His newest book is Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, which he will discuss at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. In advance of his visit, he took Chapter 16’s Fernanda Moore to a Manhattan health-food restaurant for lunch.

In his book 1861: The Civil War Awakening, historian and journalist Adam Goodheart presents what he calls a “pointillist” picture of a country on the brink of self-destruction. Through a series of profiles and stories, Goodheart demonstrates how America was both gearing up for an epic conflict and coming to grips with the horror that lay before it—and all the while slowly realizing that whatever happened, it would change the nation forever. He spoke with Chapter 16 by phone prior to his forthcoming appearance at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville.