Gallatin poet Elizabeth McClellan is a finalist for an unusual literary award
October 3, 2011 “Razor Hair Girls,” a poem by Gallatin native Elizabeth McClellan, is one of five finalists for the 2011 Naked Girls Reading Literary Honors. The winner will be announced in Chicago on November 18 after a live, on-stage reading of the finalists by the Naked Girls, a group of “beautiful ladies who love to read…naked,” according to their website.
Read moreCNN talks with Abraham Verghese, novelist and physician, about why a doctor’s touch matters
September 30, 2011 Abraham Verghese is becoming well known for his belief in the importance of the kind of bedside examinations that doctors, in his view, too often skip. For Verghese–the author of the novel Cutting for Stone, which has been on The New York Times bestseller list for eighty-seven weeks–physicians who order high-tech diagnostic tests without ever conducting a physical exam are guilty of reducing human beings to “iPatients.”
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The island residents in Michael Parker’s new novel are as inescapably affected by ocean and sky as any sandbar or dune
September 30, 2011 Based loosely on historical figures, Michael Parker’s new novel, The Watery Part of the World, focuses on the last three remaining residents of tiny Yaupon Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where the people are shaped and worn by the fierce forces of nature. The novel dazzles in its lyrical evocation of the harsh truths and beauties of the Outer Banks and in its piercing exploration of its characters’ hearts. Michael Parker will discuss The Watery Part of the World at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.
Read moreHandmade & Bound, a book-arts festival at Watkins College, kicks off a new tradition in Nashville
September 29, 2011 Handmade & Bound, a new book-arts festival in Nashville, will give visitors a chance to read between the lines. The festival features demonstrations and workshops that explore the world of carved wooden books, book restoration, indie-publishing resources, DIY pop-up books, zine-making, and more. “It really is an all-ages thing,” explains Annie Herlocker of Watkins College, a co-sponsor of the event. “This is something that spans all generations.”
Read moreThe New York Times highlights the launch of two Nashville bookstores following the loss of Borders
September 28, 2011 The liquidation of Borders has many publishing-industry analysts—not to mention readers (and at least one bestselling Nashville novelist)—wondering if the bookstore cycle has come full circle: now that Amazon has killed the big-box stores that earlier killed the independents, is it time for the tiny indy bookshop on the corner to make a comeback?
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In her latest ballad novel, Sharyn McCrumb takes a new look at an old murder
September 28, 2011 “The Ballad of Tom Dooley,” a megahit for the Kingston Trio back in 1958, tells a tale of love gone wrong. It is a sad story but a straightforward one: man meets woman; man kills woman; man hangs. In fact, the story is so straightforward that Sharyn McCrumb at first resisted using the song as the foundation for her next novel based on Appalachian ballads. Then she did some research. The resulting book, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, takes readers on a dark journey of love, betrayal, and irrational hatred that is worthy of Emily Bronte. Or the Coen brothers. Sharyn McCrumb is on an extensive book tour that includes seven appearances in Tennessee; click here for details.
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