Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

A World Beyond

Alan Lightman considers the origins of spirituality in The Transcendent Brain

In his latest book, The Transcendent Brain, physicist and novelist Alan Lightman explores the biological and evolutionary sources of our most profound mystical experiences.

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The Root of a Person

Light to the Hills tells a story of bringing literacy and light to impoverished people

Light to the Hills contains many of the traditional elements of Appalachian life — tales of moonshine and cock fighting, feuds and floods, coal mining and snake handling — but in Bonnie Blaylock’s lyrical prose, they come alive in a new way to tell a powerful story of family ties, mountain ways, and mountain justice. Blaylock will sign her book at Linebaugh Public Library in Murfreesboro on April 5.

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Nashville Heroes

Journalist Tim Ghianni recalls decades covering country legends

Pilgrims, Pickers and Honky-Tonk Heroes is a tribute to Nashville’s country music legends and the city’s past.

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Boundaries and Chaos

Mary-Alice Daniel’s debut poetry collection interrogates our sense of order

Mary-Alice Daniel’s Mass for Shut-Ins is the winner of the 2022 Yale Younger Poets Prize. The poems in this debut collection ask readers to live inside a porousness of borders, both physical and mental.

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A Lifelong Task

Poet Alicia Ostriker talks to Chapter 16 about wrestling with literary and cultural tradition

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: An author of both groundbreaking criticism and acclaimed poetry, Alicia Ostriker has devoted much of her work to a feminist transformation of literary and cultural tradition. Whether arguing for recognition of women’s poetry as a genre in its own right or recasting the stories of the Bible from a feminist perspective, Ostriker is a radical with a deep respect for her roots. 

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Overtime

On Saturdays, we play with their children and pour the tea

I arrange the clementines on the table next to the store-bought croissants and juice boxes; this has now become a ritual, though not a meditative one.

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