Lyda Phillips

August 8, 2014 After five novels, Christina Baker Kline has her first bestseller with Orphan Train, which has sold more than one million copies thanks to community-reading projects and book clubs. This quiet novel dissects not only a remarkable historical phenomenon but also the enduring emotional scars left by family tragedy. Kline will discuss Orphan Train at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

August 23, 2013 In her debut novel, The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker weaves an intricate tapestry made of both Middle Eastern myth and the gritty reality of life on New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century. In this colorful world, two magical creatures craft their own version of humanity from elemental earth and fire. Wecker will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

August 23, 2012 Jeff Crook spins up a maelstrom of exotic characters and macabre events in The Sleeping and the Dead, the first in what looks to be a powerful paranormal mystery series. Crook will read from The Sleeping and the Dead on August 30 at 6 p.m. at The Booksellers in Laurelwood in Memphis.

August 21, 2012 Daniel Woodrell, the acclaimed author of Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, and The Death of Sweet Mister, has published a slim volume of short stories every bit as gritty and searing as his longer work. Woodrell will read from and discuss The Outlaw Album at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.