Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Saving Magic

Novelist Megan Giddings explores the intersection of gender and power

Megan Giddings’ second novel, The Women Could Fly, employs dystopia and fantasy to examine the most pressing issues that curb women’s autonomy. Giddings will appear at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.

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We’re Back, Baby!

A booklover’s guide to the Southern Festival of Books

The festival is about love. Love for the beautiful words that move and delight us, love for the authors who put those words on paper and screen, and love for the culture and community of the book.

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What’s Most Sacred

Cemeteries reveal the good, bad, and ugly sides of U.S. history

In Over My Dead Body, author Greg Melville leads readers on a fascinating journey through time by means of the burial grounds and death practices of the United States from colonial Jamestown to the present day. Greg Melville will appear at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.

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Everybody Has to Do Something

The effects of climate change endanger the lives of four teens

“Nature can take care of itself,” proclaims a climate change denier in Alan Gratz’s latest middle-grade thriller, Two Degrees. But by the end of the story, Gratz and his four teenage protagonists have made a strong case that the opposite is true. Alan Gratz will appear at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.

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Candlelit Suspense

A gripping story set in the waning days of the Italian Renaissance

In The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell spins a tale that flows like quicksilver beneath heavy gowns and gilt pageantry. O’Farrell will appear in conversation with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 12.

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The First Novel

The Hero of This Book ponders the story of a mother and daughter

Elizabeth McCracken’s new novel, The Hero of This Book, offers a dazzling, prismatic story of an author reflecting on her mother and her writing. McCracken will discuss the book with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 10.

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