Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

No Quitter

Shania Twain’s new memoir is a tale of passion and perseverance

Secrets are safe with Shania Twain. The five-time Grammy winner has sold seventy-five million albums, but she has also lived much of her life in silence, fiercely protecting her family’s “painful” and “embarrassing” past from public scrutiny. The decision to divulge some of those secrets in the hope that it might “be of help to others” is what gives her new autobiography, From this Moment On, its remarkable heart.

Read more

Lion of the Blues

Author Charles Farley tells the story of blues legend Bobby “Blue” Bland, invoking a pantheon of soul music’s most important faces and places

August 10, 2011 With Soul of the Man: Bobby “Blue” Bland, Charles Farley illuminates the life of a towering talent that The New Yorker recently called a contender for “voice of the century.” While Bobby “Blue” Bland may not be a household name outside the music community, he played a pivotal role in the blending of blues, country, and gospel that created the soul-music revolution. Farley recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email and will be signing his new book at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 11 at 6 p.m.

Read more

Another Honor for Mattawa

Khaled Mattawa wins the 2011 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation

August 10, 2011 Libyan-born (and University of Tennessee-educated) poet Khaled Mattawa has been in the news often during the last six months, thanks to his activism on behalf of the nascent Libyan revolution. Today he is back in the news for a more literary reason. The PEN American Center, the largest branch of the world’s oldest literary and human-rights organization, announced that he has won the 2011 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. The award, which carries a stipend of $3,000, is given annually to a book-length translation of poetry into English.

Read more

From Ahab to Akmaaq

John Minichillo’s The Snow Whale is a satirical retelling of Melville’s Moby-Dick

August 9, 2011 In his debut novel, The Snow Whale, MTSU creative-writing professor John Minichillo uses Melville’s Moby-Dick as a touchstone for a satirical juxtaposition of the trivialities of cubicle culture with the wilds of Northern Alaska, where men still hunt whales—to consequences both hilarious and unexpectedly moving. Today Minichillo talks with Chapter 16 about the challenges of imagining a traditional whale hunt, finding a venue for unconventional fiction in small-press publishing, and taking on the Great American Whale.

Read more

Timeless

In Myra McEntire’s YA thriller, Hourglass, two young sweethearts travel into the past to prevent a murder

August 8, 2011 When Emerson Cole discovers that she may have the ability to travel through time, she’s not particularly thrilled. As a high-school senior with exactly one friend, she’s actually far less interested in time travel than in avoiding the label of total freak. In Hourglass, Myra McEntire takes a twisting, turning journey through the physics of time, but the most important journey is Emerson’s discovery of her own surprising reserves of courage, love, and loyalty. Timeless qualities indeed. On August 8 at 6:30 p.m, McEntire will read at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood as a part of the Ash2Nash Tour of YA authors.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING