September 17, 2010 Tina Barr’s book, The Gathering Eye, won the Editor’s Prize at Tupelo Press. She has received Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the MacDowell Colony, the Ucross Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her poems have been published or will shortly appear in Shenandoah, The Antioch Review, The Notre Dame Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Witness. Barr teaches at Rhodes College in Memphis.
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Blueberry Dreams
In a new memoir, poet Jim Minick considers the decade he spent as an organic farmer
September 16, 2010 Of all the manifestations youthful idealism can take, perhaps the most earnest—and also the most apt to end in disappointment—is the one recorded so memorably by Henry David Thoreau. Walden; or, Life in the Woods was first published in 1854, and for the last 150 years it has inspired a certain kind of young person to move to the wilderness and “live deliberately.” Thoreau’s own life in the woods lasted two years. Jim Minick’s dream of being an organic blueberry farmer lasted a decade longer than that. Minick will discuss his memoir, The Blueberry Years, at 3 p.m. on September 17 at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, and 2 p.m. on September 18 at Carpe Librum Booksellers in Knoxville.
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Poet as Alchemist
Chapter 16 talks to Blas Falconer about his new guide for aspiring poets
September 15, 2010 Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets brings together a group of accomplished writers to discuss the mysterious craft of writing poetry. Poet and Austin Peay professor Blas Falconer, one of the book’s editors, speaks to Chapter 16 about the collection, and about his own creative process.
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The Bondage of Fame
In his new novel, Rick Bass’s trademark lyricism brings the Nashville Sound to life in language
September 14, 2010 The Browns were trailblazers of the “Nashville Sound,” massively successful crossover artists who, from 1955 to 1967, amassed dozens of hits and a slate of music-industry nominations and awards. At the peak of their popularity, the Browns outsold even their old friend Elvis. Their signature hit, “The Three Bells,” sold over a million copies and has since been covered by a variety of artists, from Ray Charles and Roy Orbison to Alison Krauss & Union Station. But, despite their success, the Browns are all but anonymous today, barely remembered even by music aficionados. Bestselling author Rick Bass tells their story in a new novel called Nashville Chrome.
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Winesburg, Louisiana?
A splendid new story collection by M.O. Walsh takes its cue from Sherwood Anderson
September 13, 2010 In the hands of a less subtle writer, the premise of M.O. Walsh’s new collection of stories, The Prospect of Magic, could easily have resulted in hopeless kitsch. When the owner of The World Famous Ploofop Travelling Carnival dies suddenly, the carnies and circus acts find themselves stuck in Fluker, Louisiana, and forced to learn to live straight. What keeps these tales from devolving into material for a bad sitcom is the care with which Walsh details his characters’ inner turmoil. M.O. Walsh will read from his work at the Hodges Library on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on September 13 at 7 p.m.
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Rebecca Skloot leaves Memphis for Chicago
September 12, 2010 Rebecca Skloot, bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks recently gave up her position at the University of Memphis to move to Chicago. Today she speaks with the Commercial Appeal‘s Richard Morgan about her years in Memphis and their importance in the creation of a bestseller. Read the story here.
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