Chapter 16 - Part 6

To Haunt and to Goad

John Jeremiah Sullivan talks with Chapter 16 about writing nonfiction in the Internet age

By Susannah Felts | February 9, 2016

February 9, 2016 John Jeremiah Sullivan’s voice is uniquely equipped to snare readers in lengthy examinations of topics they never considered worthy of much thought. The author most recently of Pulphead, Sullivan is widely considered to be one of the great nonfiction writers of this age. He will give a free public address at the University of the South in Sewanee on February 15, 2016.

Kitchen Babies

Former rocker Freda Love Smith teaches her son to cook—and writes a splendid memoir along the way

By Susannah Felts | January 13, 2016

January 13, 2016 A gritty rock club and a modest home kitchen might seem like opposite ends of the earth. But in Freda Love Smith’s new book, Red Velvet Underground, the two are deliciously twined. A memoir seasoned with recipes, this story charts the coming of age of both mother and child as Smith teaches her teenage son how to cook. Smith will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 19, 2016.

Across the Alley

What you know about your neighbors isn’t always enough to illuminate what you don’t

By Susannah Felts | December 15, 2015

December 15, 2015 They were in this neighborhood before we were, and they’ll be here when we leave. Theirs is a sad and angry life. The woman’s voice itself is a caricature: coarse, booze and smoke-ravaged. She tends to shout and taunt and curse sarcastically—all her fury and misery spat out in expletives.

Living Kindly in the World

Cynthia Lord’s new middle-grade novel is almost a parable of empathy

By Susannah Felts | October 7, 2015

October 7, 2015 In Cynthia Lord’s latest middle-grade novel, A Handful of Stars, the blueberry barrens of coastal Maine present a rich backdrop for a story of two new friends, Lily and Salma, whose families’ livelihoods are dependent on the local agricultural economy. Lord will appear on October 10, 2015, at 1 p.m. in the Commons Room of the Nashville Public Library. The event, part of the Southern Festival of Books, is free and open to the public.

A Dark Little Flame

Set in Sewanee, Leah Stewart’s new novel is a study of small-town secrets and hidden judgments

By Susannah Felts | July 6, 2015

July 6, 2015 In her fifth novel, The New Neighbor, Leah Stewart brings together two isolated women with secrets in their pasts. With elements of a mystery, the novel is also a thoughtful study of the masks we wear and the complex fictions we present to others. Stewart will discuss the book in conversation with Kevin Wilson, bestselling author of The Family Fang, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 9, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Bringing People Together

With Southern Cooking for Company Nicki Pendleton Wood demystifies the dinner party

By Susannah Felts | June 30, 2015

June 30, 2015 As a critic and editor, Nicki Pendleton Wood has been writing about food for decades. Now she’s brought forth her own cookbook: Southern Cooking for Company is a compendium of Southern recipes collected from home cooks all over the region. Wood will discuss the project at two Nashville events: Parnassus Books on July 2, 2015, at 6:30 p.m., and Barnes & Noble Vanderbilt on July 9 at 7 p.m.

Distant Sons

Tim Johnston
Algonquin Books
400 pages
$29

“Tim Johnston has once again raised the bar for the literary thriller. Distant Sons is elegant and edgy, refined and complex. It excavates the truth from the darkest recesses of the past and shines a light towards the possibility of a redemptive future.”

~ Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women and Sing Her Down