Garrison Keillor reads a poem by Darnell Arnoult
January 29, 2011 For poets, the closest thing to winning the lottery has to be for Garrison Keillor to read their poems on his public radio program, The Writer’s Almanac. Today, Darnell Arnoult, Chapter 16 board member and Writer in Residence at Lincoln Memorial University, won the lottery for the third time when Keillor read her poem, “Psychology Today.” The poem begins,
Have you ever had
delusions of grandeur?
Bestselling historical novelist Robert Hicks talks with Chapter 16 about historic preservation
January 27, 2011 Novelist Robert Hicks was standing in the McGavock family parlor of Carnton Plantation, talking about Carnton Plantation: Where the Old South Died, when an antique clock struck. Hicks fell silent as three distinct metallic chimes drifted through the stately chambers of the home. “You see? Right there,” he said. “Imagine this parlor in November of 1864 and the hundreds of wounded lying here, in the halls, in the bedrooms. The sound of that clock. Every hour on the hour. That’s a sound they would have heard.”
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January 26, 2011 Amy Wright is the author of two chapbooks, There Are No New Ways To Kill A Man, and Farm. Her work has also appeared in a number of journals or collections, including American Letters & Commentary, Quarterly West, and The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Southern Appalachia. She is the prose editor of Zone 3 Press and an assistant professor of creative writing at Austin Peay State University. She spends her time conducting interviews with various artists and writers. Examples are available at Zone 3. Amy Wright will read from Farm at the Montgomery County Public Library on January 27 at 5:30 p.m.
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Jennifer Trafton debuts with a charming tale for young readers
January 25, 2011 In The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic, Jennifer Trafton creates a delightful fairy-tale world. This beautifully illustrated novel introduces a land inhabited by very serious Leafeaters; overly hilarious Rumblebumps; a spoiled young king who loves pepper and is saved by the love of a cat; Worvil the Worrier, whose imagination paralyzes him; and especially Persimmony Smudge, an irrepressible and courageous heroine. The inhabitants call their home “The Island at the Center of Everything,” but as it turns out, it’s a sleeping giant who’s really at the center of everything. Trafton will read from and sign copies of The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic at Cover To Cover Bookstore in Arlington on Jan. 27 at 5 p.m.
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Jesmyn Ward’s debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds, updates Faulkner’s Mississippi
January 24, 2011 Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, the setting of Jesmyn Ward’s debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds, is a tiny town nestled in the swampy, piney depths of the Gulf Coast, where few leave and solid jobs are fewer still. It is a world that Ward, currently writer-in-residence at Ole Miss, knows intimately. Her deep empathy for the people of this place, and her attentiveness to its landscape, make the book a stirring, evocative portrait of two brave young African-American men who ask for little beyond the love and support of their maternal grandmother, Ma-mee. Ward will read at the Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus on January 25 at 7 p.m.
Read moreClay Risen considers an unusual charter school
January 24, 2011 In the February/March issue of BookForum, author and Chapter 16 contributor Clay Risen reviews a new book by video-game designer Jane McGonigal. Reality Is Broken examines the goals and effectiveness of a unique New York City charter school called Quest to Learn, where students tackle assignments designed to mimic the experience of playing a video game.
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