In The Thin Light of Freedom, Edward L. Ayers reconsiders the Civil War through two communities on opposite sides
With The Thin Light of Freedom, Edward L. Ayers casts new light on the Civil War through the experience of two communities—one Northern, one Southern—occupied by enemy armies made up of their former countrymen. Ayers will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.
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In Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Kevin Wilson plumbs the tragicomic depths of misbegotten lives
A widow welcomes home her drug-addicted son after the demise of his rock band. A single mother tries to talk her son out of dressing up for Halloween as his dead brother. A chain-smoking priest attempts to cure an altar boy who faints during Communion. With the stories in Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Sewanee fiction writer Kevin Wilson continues his tragicomic exploration of the dark side of domesticity.
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Chapter 16 talks with James McBride, author of the 2016 Nashville Reads selection, The Color of Water
Nearly twenty years have passed since the publication of James McBride’s first book, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother. The memoir spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and continues to be a regular selection for city-wide programs.
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In Warlight, Michael Ondaatje delivers a literary mystery and a meditation on the power of memory
“In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals.” Thus begins Michael Ondaatje’s newest novel, an engrossing literary mystery with echoes that hearken back to The English Patient. Ondaatje will discuss Warlight at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 19.
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Southern Writers on Writing, a new essay collection edited by Susan Cushman, offers new answers to an old question
Southern Writers on Writing is not the first attempt to ask what it means to tell about the South, but it is distinguished by the presence of diverse voices, from sage elders like Clyde Edgerton and Lee Smith to rising stars like Julie Cantrell, M.O. Walsh, and Michael Farris Smith. Cushman will join several contributors for a panel discussion at Novel in Memphis on May 5.
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Daniel Wolff’s Grown-Up Anger examines the social impact of American folk music
In Grown-Up Anger, Daniel Wolff looks at the rise and fall of organized labor and folk music’s role in speaking truth to power. Wolff will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 2. Joining him will be musicians Rayna Gellert and Abigail Washburn.
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