Memphis event explores new possibilities in a rich literary tradition
October 6, 2011 With a new show called Fragments: Poets and Artists of the South and Southwest, Memphis’s Harrington Brown Gallery hosts an innovative exploration of the ancient tradition of ekphrasis—a literary description or consideration of a work of art. The show opens on October 7 at 6 p.m. and runs through November 1.
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October 6, 2011 Bill Brown has written four poetry collections, three chapbooks, and a textbook. The recipient of many awards and fellowships, Brown lives in the hills of Robertson County with his wife, Suzanne, and a tribe of cats. He wrote “The Faraway Nearby” for an exhibition called Fragments: Poets and Artists of the South and Southwest at the Harrington Brown Gallery in Memphis. Brown’s poem is a response to a photograph of the work of Carolyn Hinske, a fiber artist based in Taos, New Mexico. Read more about Fragments here.
Read moreAnn Patchett’s novel State of Wonder is a finalist for the 2011 Wellcome Trust Book Prize
October 6, 2011 Ann Patchett’s novel, State of Wonder is one of six finalists for the 2011 Wellcome Trust Book Prize. The award, which will be announced at a ceremony in London on November 9, honors a literary work about health, illness, or medicine. In addition to State of Wonder, finalists this year include two works of nonfiction and three novels. The award carries a prize of £25,000 (about $40,000).
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Justin Torres talks with Chapter 16 about his critically acclaimed debut novel—and about what it feels like to go home again
October 5, 2011 Other writers can’t quit praising the debut novel by Justin Torres. “We should all be grateful for Justin Torres, a brilliant, ferocious new voice,” Michael Cunningham wrote for the book’s back cover, where he joined Dorothy Allison, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Harding, and Tayari Jones in a veritable orgy of blurbing for We the Animals. Torres will appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.
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For Taylor Stevens, the inspiration for her debut thriller came from her own unusual past
October 4, 2011 Taylor Stevens grew up on four different continents as part of a religious cult, escaping only in her twenties. Now a novelist living in Texas, she used her unusual experience to create the fierce heroine of The Informationist, who flouts West Africa’s vicious power brokers to rescue a Texas oil heiress. Stevens will discuss The Informationist at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.
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Anthologist Andrea N. Richesin talks with Chapter 16 about getting writers to spill their guts
October 3, 2011 A crush can make even the most creative writer into a cliché. Luckily the contributors to Crush: 26 Real-Life Tales of First Love are too funny and self-aware to fall into that trap for long. In the experienced hands of editor and East Tennessee native Andrea N. Richesin, the tales of their summer flings, student stalkers, eternal bad boys, celebrity fairy tales, long-distance romances, and lost innocence explain not how we lose what we love passionately but how we find ourselves in the process.
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