Chapter 16 - Part 495

Our Own True Selves

In a novel for middle-grade readers, Silas House and Neela Vaswani invent a pair of pen pals whose letters bridge their cultural divide

By Tina LoTufo | February 9, 2012

February 9, 2012 Same Sun Here, a new middle-grade novel by Silas House and Neela Vaswani, examines what happens when people find a way to overcome social barriers and make a real connection to another person—no matter how “other” the other may seem. In the process, the authors suggest, they might find that the things which unite them—love for family, dreams for the future, and a belief in the necessity of justice and compassion for all—are greater than the circumstances which separate them.

Dr. Verghese, Hollywood is Calling

Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone is headed to the big screen

By Margaret Renkl | February 9, 2012

February 9, 2012 Abraham Verghese’s sprawling epic, Cutting for Stone, just passed the two-year mark on The New York Times bestseller list (that’s 104 weeks, if you’re counting), has sold more than a million copies, and has been published in twenty-five different languages.

The River Rose

In Once Upon a River, Bonnie Jo Campbell introduces a fearless young heroine whose escape on the water brings her close to both danger and desperation, but also to courage

By Susannah Felts | February 8, 2012

February 8, 2012 At age fourteen, Margo Crane, a quiet and beautiful girl, learns to shoot a rifle. A natural with the weapon, she feels “the guidance of the gun itself,” writes Bonnie Jo Campbell in Once Upon a River. “It held her steady, and then sadness perfected her aim.” Absorbing, exotic, and relentlessly heartbreaking, this second novel from the National Book Award finalist is a transcendent example of a journey narrative, centered on a singular, complex protagonist who refuses to be contained or forgotten. Campbell will read from her work February 9 at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.

Another Prize for Mattawa

Khaled Mattawa has won Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for literature in translationeld by The Society of Authors

By Margaret Renkl | February 8, 2012

February 8, 2012 The Society of Authors has awarded Khaled Mattawa the £3,000 Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize at a London event to celebrate literature in translation. The prizewinning collection is Selected Poems by Syrian poet Adonis. Poetry doesn’t often yield riches of the monetary kind, but Mattawa is on something of a roll where lucrative literary prizes are concerned.

My Life as a Ghost

Eddie and Taj George needed a ghostwriter; Rob Simbeck was their man

By Rob Simbeck | February 7, 2012

February 7, 2012 When Eddie and Tamara George wanted to write a book about the keys to a happy marriage, their publisher matched them with longtime ghostwriter Rob Simbeck. The Georges will discuss Married for Real: Building a Loving, Powerful Life Together at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on February 7 at 7 p.m., and at the Kroger in Hermitage on February 8 at 6 p.m. In an essay for Chapter 16, Simbeck tells the story behind their story.

Ambassador to Hell

David Scheffer gives a firsthand account of bringing war criminals to justice

By Maria Browning | February 6, 2012

February 6, 2012 David Scheffer served as the first-ever U.S. ambassador-at-large for war-crimes issues, an office sometimes referred to by his colleagues as “Ambassador to Hell.” In All the Missing Souls, Scheffer gives a firsthand account of the political and diplomatic struggle to form international courts of justice for what he calls “atrocity crimes,” and provides vivid accounts of his own encounters with the survivors of unimaginable brutality. David Scheffer will discuss All the Missing Souls in Nashville at noon on February 7 in the Flynn Auditorium of the Vanderbilt University Law School. The event is free and open to the public.

I Gotta Sing!

By Alice Faye Duncan
WaterBrook
40 pages
$14.99

“A whole barnyard makes noise ‘in the Spirit of joy’ throughout this raucous picture book, a sweetly heartwarming sing-along by Duncan. Kellam conveys comfort and happiness as the loved ones reflect sunny enthusiasm in this gladdening rendition of the Black American religious folk song ‘I’m Goin’a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing.’”

~Publishers Weekly