November 23, 2010 Nashville writer Tony Earley, whose critically acclaimed novels Jim the Boy and The Blue Star are set in the mountains of western North Carolina, has been elected a new member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. The organization was founded in 1987 by Southern luminaries like Cleanth Brooks, Fred Chappell, James Dickey, Shelby Foote, John Hope Franklin, Walker Percy, Reynolds Price, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and C.
November 22, 2010 Ann Patchett is the author of five novels—not counting the forthcoming State of Wonder, which is due in June—and two books of nonfiction. Though her first published work was a short story which appeared in The Paris Review, and though she is the editor of the 2006 edition of Best American Short Stories, she is not especially well known for her own short fiction. Fortunately, the Holiday Fiction Issue of The Washington Post offers a rare example of Patchett’s mastery of the short-story form:
November 19, 2010 Artists Vadis Turner and Matthew Parker were living in New York and watching helplessly as the flood waters rose around their hometown last May. Their idea for helping from afar is finally coming to fruition: a children’s picture book, Nashville Counts!, celebrates the highlights of life in Music City and simultaneously showcases the work of some of its finest artists. Turner answered questions from Chapter 16 prior to the opening reception for Nashville Counts!, which will be held at the Rymer Gallery in Nashville (235 5th Avenue North) on November 27 at 6:30 p.m. Proceeds from both book sales and a silent auction of the original art will aid in flood relief through Hands On Nashville.
November 18, 2010 A “dazzle of possibilities is perhaps what we stand to lose most when one more bookstore closes,” Nashville novelist Adam Ross writes in a valediction for Davis-Kidd Booksellers in today’s issue of the Nashville Scene. “It’s a step closer to the end of serendipity.
November 15, 2010 Rebecca Skloot’s debut work of nonfiction has won the Wellcome Trust book prize for the best work of fiction or nonfiction with a medical theme. The award carries a prize of £25,000 (about $40,000).
November 12, 2010 Sedaris’s trademark brand of humor is marked by equal doses of caustic wit and the sweet wistfulness of the true romantic. Sedaris never misses a chance to point out the absolute idiocy of human beings—including, invariably hilariously, his own mistakes and misadventures—but it’s impossible to read his essays and stories without concluding that he secretly enjoys the parade of human foolishness he’s treated to every day. He recently spoke with Chapter 16 prior to his signing of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on November 13 at 3 p.m.
