Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Voices of Stone

Poetic interpretations of a master sculptor’s work

Nashville sculptor William Edmondson believed he worked at God’s command. In a collection of poems for young readers, Elizabeth Spires gives his creations voices of their own.

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Alive and Well—in Sewanee and Elsewhere

Wyatt Prunty explains why reports of poetry’s death have been greatly exaggerated

“I am able to report that poetry is alive and well today, and that it is highly varied in technique and subject,” observes Wyatt Prunty. “I enjoy the proof of that every July here in Sewanee.”

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Men of Steel

Riding the rails with Howard Bahr in Pelican Road

When an author establishes a stellar reputation for one kind of book, he takes a risk if he turns to new subjects, as Howard Bahr has done in Pelican Road. A former professor of English at Motlow State College in Tullahoma, Bahr acquired a slew of excellent reviews and awards for his first three novels, each featuring characters haunted by the horrors of the Civil War, particularly the vicious Battle of Franklin. So fans may be apprehensive to learn that his new book skips ahead seventy-five years and portrays not soldiers but men who rode the rails in the golden age of steam.

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The Lost Shall Be Found

Nashville writer Robert Benson offers hope to readers looking for their real mission in life

Indeed, the reader might hear an echo within this book: haven’t we heard this story before? Several times? Well, yes and no. In The Echo Within, Nashville native Robert Benson opens again the story of his journey as a wanderer, writer, and mystic. But this time, the echo sounds across new territory.

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Memphis, A City of Timelessness and Transition

New book considers the effects of globalization on a great Southern city … and vice versa

In Memphis and the Paradox of Place, Wanda Rushing explores the cultural, geographic, and economic influences of a city that holds a unique place in Tennessee and the world. Rushing’s nuanced investigation has real-world implications for Memphis’s future — and for cities such as New Orleans, which seem in a perpetual state of limbo.

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Biography

A. Manette Ansay was born in 1964 in Michigan and raised in Port Washington, Wisconsin, among 67 cousins and over 200 second cousins. She is the author of six novels, including Good Things I Wish You (July, 2009), Vinegar Hill, an Oprah Book Club Selection, and Midnight Champagne, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as a short story collection, Read This and Tell Me What It Says, and a memoir, Limbo. Her awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, a Pushcart Prize, the Nelson Algren Prize, and two Great Lakes Book Awards.

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