Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Who Lies Beneath

Nyani Nkrumah reckons with tragic history and racial reconciliation in a coming-of-age literary debut

Nyani Nkrumah’s debut, Wade in the Water, is a Southern coming-of-age tale that poses deep questions about race, reconciliation, history, and remembrance. Nkrumah will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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I’m From Cleveland

David Madden shines an honest light on his family history

Distinguished man of letters and Knoxville native David Madden adds a family memoir to his impressive roster of publications. Set mostly in mid-century Knoxville, Momma’s Lost Piano tells the story of his mother, Emily Merritt Madden, and life’s cruel betrayal of her early expectations.

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When Life Was Simpler

Women reflect on their mountain upbringing

In The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women, editor Kami Ahrens curates a collection of voices that subvert the pastoral image of mountain living. Ahrens will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Happiness and Hope Are Worth Choosing

A true story of adventure and inspiration for middle-grade readers

Adapted for middle-grade readers from Hayley Arceneaux’s 2022 memoir of the same name, Wild Ride tells the story of her recovery from childhood cancer and her unexpected opportunity, at age 29, to join the first all-civilian mission to space.

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History Happens

Drew Gilpin Faust recalls growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s

In Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury, former Harvard University president Drew Gilpin Faust recalls her privileged Virginia childhood in the 1950s and her growing involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Faust will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Rights and Revolutions

Historian Timothy S. Huebner discusses how a “culture of constitutionalism” shaped the Civil War era

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Liberty and Union, Rhodes College professor Timothy S. Huebner brings together an enormous body of scholarship on the secession crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction, compelling us to reconsider what we think we know about the era.

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