Chapter 16 - Part 524

Scenic Reads

Myra McEntire, Beth Revis, and Victoria Schwab take an innovative route to promote their books

By Tristan Hickey | August 5, 2011

August 5, 2011 Most book tours take authors only to stores in cities—and only really big cities, if publicity departments have anything to say about it. It’s a tried-and-true tactic that increases book sales and author renown: fans come to hear their favorite literary voices in person, and the bookstore’s more oblivious customers discover a new talent to add to their shelves. There are always losers to every winning strategy, however: in this case, it’s the fans who live in more rural areas where authors wouldn’t normally travel.

Styron's Choice

In Alexandra Styron’s new memoir, William Styron emerges as a brilliant novelist but an inscrutable father

By Fernanda Moore | August 5, 2011

August 5, 2011 Alexandra Styron, the youngest child of William Styron, was born the year his celebrated novel The Confessions of Nat Turner was published. In her own new memoir, Reading My Father, she aims to merge the tale of her childhood, one that was alternately charmed and cursed, with a carefully researched exegesis of her famous father’s life and work. Styron will appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. She recently answered questions from Chapter 16.

This Land Is Not Necessarily Your Land

Will Kaufman’s political biography of Woody Guthrie teaches a lesson in homegrown radicalism

By Paul V. Griffith | August 4, 2011

August 4, 2011 Folk singer Woody Guthrie is best known for “This Land Is Your Land,” a patriotic travelogue that has become America’s second national anthem. Like Guthrie’s own image, however, the song has been gutted of its political importance over the years. In Woody Guthrie, American Radical, Will Kaufman reclaims Guthrie’s radicalism, painting a picture of an inconsistent yet passionate crusader who saw tyranny as the greatest of all evils. At noon on August 10, Kaufman will present a live musical documentary on the songs and politics of Woody Guthrie, American Radical at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series.

A Blues Man's Biography

Philip Ratcliffe documents the life and music of legendary blues artist Mississippi John Hurt

By Morey Hill | August 3, 2011

August 3, 2011 Philip Ratcliffe was enthralled with the music of Mississippi John Hurt from the moment he first heard one of Hurt’s recordings in 1970. After a trip to Mississippi in 2003, Ratcliffe decided to document Hurt’s life. It took six years of research and writing, but Ratcliffe finally completed the first biography of the legendary blues artist. Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues chronicles the man’s musical career and captures his warm, unaffected character. Ratcliffe will discuss and sign his biography at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 4 at 6 p.m.

Five Generations

The Knoxville News Sentinel profiles poet Linda Parsons Marion

By Margaret Renkl | August 3, 2011

August 3, 2011 It came as a surprise to Linda Parsons Marion when she realized that the poems she had slowly been writing for an untitled collection amounted to an exploration of five generations of her family, starting with her grandparents and continuing through the birth of her own first grandchild. From that moment on, the book had a title: Bound. The word is “very laden with so many layers of meaning—goodness, ambiguity, negativity,” Marion told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Potter 2G

Victoria Schwab grew up with her head in J.K. Rowling’s fictional world; now she’s writing fiction of her own

By Susannah Felts | August 2, 2011

August 2, 2011 In The Near Witch, the debut young-adult novel from Nashville author Victoria Schwab, an unfamiliar boy shows up in the insular village of Near, which has not been visited by strangers in decades. Soon, children are going missing from their homes, night after night. Only a young girl, Lexi, who narrates the story, is convinced that the strange boy is not to blame. Darkly atmospheric, this story by a twenty-three-year-old debut author is an accomplished take on the classic fairy-tale form. Victoria Schwab will read from The Near Witch as part of the “Ash To Nash Tour” of YA writers. They will be in Kingsport on August 6, Knoxville on August 7, and Brentwood on August 8. For details, visit the tour’s website here.

Red Dead's History: A Video Game, an Obsession, and America's Violent Past

By Tore C. Olsson
St. Martin's Press
288 pages
$30

“I recommend Red Dead’s History unreservedly not only to fans of the iconic video game, but also to anyone who wants to understand the riotousness — from Wild West gunslingers to Jim Crow to lynching — that darkened our past, and which continues to influence our culture. Olsson’s prose is graceful, his analysis profound. This is history at its most accessible and exciting.”

~Peter Cozzens, award-winning author of A Brutal Reckoning