Chapter 16 - Part 5

Ghosts, Living and Dead

Ed Tarkington talks with Chapter 16 about his debut novel, a coming-of-age story set to the soundtrack of the ‘70s

By Stephen Usery | February 4, 2016

February 4, 2016 Only Love Can Break Your Heart wasn’t the debut novel Ed Tarkington had in mind when he first started writing in earnest. But after turning out a very different novel that never found a publisher, Tarkington found his voice by mining his own family’s experiences. He will read from the book at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on February 11, 2016, at 6 p.m.

Through the Eyes of a Child

By Stephen Usery | February 4, 2016

Only Love Can Break Your Heart wasn’t the debut novel Ed Tarkington had in mind when he first started writing in earnest. But after turning out a very different novel that never found a publisher, Tarkington found his voice by mining his own family’s experiences. The protagonist of the resulting coming-of-age novel, Rocky Askew, is a boy growing up in a fractured upper-middle-class family in southern Virginia during the late 1970s.

A Struggle Against Dull

By Stephen Usery | January 21, 2016

January 21, 2016 Rick Bragg will kick off the Southern Lit Alliance’s Distinguished Lectures series tonight with a reading at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center in Chattanooga. In this podcast, Bragg talks with Chapter 16 about his biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, why Southern storytellers are drawn to the Gothic, and why, for a writer, “everything is a struggle against dull.”

A Propulsive Page-Turner

By Stephen Usery | December 3, 2015

December 3, 2015 In Tim Johnston’s literary thriller, Descent, Kaitlyn Courtland goes missing while training for her freshman season on the track team at the University of Wisconsin. Her brother is with her when she disappears on a mountain trail, but he’s found unconscious and injured at the scene. Johnston will launch the book’s paperback release at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on December 8, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Down the Mountain, Into Despair

In Tim Johnston’s second novel, a Wisconsin family shatters when their college-bound daughter disappears

By Stephen Usery | December 3, 2015

December 3, 2015 Tim Johnston didn’t expect his second novel to hit The New York Times bestseller list when it was published in January, but Descent merges lyrical prose and complex emotional development into a propulsive, page-turning mystery. Johnston will launch the book’s paperback release at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on December 8, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Back to the Sea

By Stephen Usery | November 24, 2015

November 24, 2015 Since Tom Clancy’s death in 2013, Memphis author Mark Greaney has continued the Jack Ryan series of thrillers. He will sign the latest installment, Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, at Barnes & Noble in Memphis on December 1, 2016, at 7 p.m.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher