Former Nashville novelist Jay McInerney has just released a new book, but that’s not why he’s back in the news
May 25, 2012 It’s tempting to begin every update on novelist Jay McInerney—who’s most famous for his 1980s debut novel, Bright Lights, Big City, though he’s written seven other books since—with the words, “Jay McInerney is back in the news this week….” But, really, when has Jay McInerney not been in the news?
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With her fifth and most ambitious novel, novelist Jeanne Ray has written a marvelous meditation on middle-aged obscurity
May 24, 2012 Any woman of a certain age who has ever walked through a busy high-school hallway without a plate of cupcakes in her hands knows what it feels like to be completely invisible. Jeanne Ray’s new novel, Calling Invisible Women, is a modern fable about showing up—literally and metaphorically—for your own life, even under the pressure of other people’s incessant expectations. Ray, who is the mother of novelist Ann Patchett, will read from her new novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 31 at 6:30 p.m.
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Colin Powell’s new book highlights a lifetime in leadership—and a few mistakes
May 23, 2012 Colin Powell has spent over a half century as a leader. Now he wants to share the lessons he learned in all those years of working to inspire and manage people. In his latest book, It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership, Powell passes along words of wisdom that would normally be handed down in private conversations between mentor and protégé. In providing examples both small and large, including those involving the controversies surrounding the war with Iraq, Powell has created a hybrid that is part memoir and part how-to book. Powell will appear in an onstage conversation with former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham on May 30 at 7 p.m. at Belmont University’s Massey Concert Hall. The event is part of the Salon@615 series.
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An unusual joint appearance at Nashville’s Scarritt-Bennett Center features paired poems—one each by Mitzi Cross and Malcolm Glass—on the same subject
May 22, 2012 Mitzi Cross and Malcolm Glass are married poets living in Clarksville, Tennessee. Cross is an award-winning poet, playwright, and photographer, whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals, art galleries, and juried exhibits across the mid-South. Glass is a writer and photographer who has published five books of poems and several textbooks, including Bone Love, In the Shadow of the Gourd, and Important Words. The two will appear together on May 24 at Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville at 7 p.m.
Read moreThanks to his new memoir, MLB knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey has the literary press watching, too
May 22, 2012 As professional baseball’s only starting knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey, the New York Mets pitcher, is no stranger to the nation’s sports pages, but this spring he’s showing up on the book pages, too, thanks to his new memoir, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball (written with New York Daily News sportswriter Wayne Coffey).
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In her new novel, Sybil Baker explores the bonds of family and the nature of belonging
May 21, 2012 Into This World, the new novel by Chattanooga author Sybil Baker, is rife with characters whose lives have not unfolded according to plan. Baker’s enthralling story follows a family caught in a web of secrets that must come unraveled before everyone involved can make the changes necessary to move forward. Sybil Baker will read from Into This World on May 23 at Winder Binder Gallery and Bookstore in Chattanooga at 7 p.m. Wine and light refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public.
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