Memphis writer Chanelle Benz shares her current reading list and the story that haunts her
A Q&A with Memphis writer Chanelle Benz launches a new feature at Chapter 16: “The Glorious Pastime,” an occasional series devoted to the reading lives of prominent Tennesseans. Benz, a novelist and short story writer, discusses her wide-ranging reading list and the book she hopes to read … someday.
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Madison Smartt Bell discusses the life and work of novelist Robert Stone
In the preface to Child of Light, his biography of novelist Robert Stone, Madison Smartt Bell describes Stone as a man who “confronted the world with the bright, acidic irony of an extraordinarily perceptive, bitterly disappointed idealist.” It’s a vivid and precise summary of the complex artist who emerges in this comprehensive book.
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Rita Sims Quillen delivers a thoughtful thriller
In Rita Sims Quillen’s Wayland, a mysterious stranger invades the lives of a family in Depression-era Appalachia. Quillen will discuss the novel at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on March 1.
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Saeed Jones’ memoir delivers a portrait of the artist as a young gay black man
In his memoir How We Fight for Our Lives, award-winning poet Saeed Jones recalls his struggle to find a way to live fully in a world that did not readily provide a place for him. Jones will appear at the 2019 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 11-13.
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The characters in Michael Croley’s debut collection struggle to find their place
In Michael Croley’s debut story collection, quiet people wrestle with the deepest human questions. Croley will discuss Any Other Place at Novel in Memphis on June 30.
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Poet Kate Daniels explores addiction as a family illness
In her new collection, In the Months of My Son’s Recovery, Nashville poet Kate Daniels writes about aging, loss, and the circle of pain created by addiction.
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