Hamton Sides’s new nonfiction book, In the Kingdom of Ice, earns raves from critics
September 24, 2014 Hampton Sides’s new book, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, was released during the height of summer’s dog days, but the book’s critical reception has been far from icy.
Poet-translator Khaled Mattawa has won a MacArthur grant
September 19, 2014 Let’s just go ahead and call 2014 Khaled Mattawa’s year: in January he was appointed chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and now he has been named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. What this most recent honor means in lay terms: Mattawa has just won a $625,000 “genius” grant.
Readers have been waiting a long time for new collection of stories by Tony Earley
September 12, 2014 As critics and readers welcome the appearance of a new work of fiction by Tony Earley, whose last book appeared in 2008, the Nashville author himself gives a fascinating interview to The Daily Beast.
Critics applaud Richard Bausch’s Before, During, After
August 22, 2014 This week’s New York Times Book Review includes Before, During, After by former University of Memphis novelist Richard Bausch among its books of the week.
Poet Diann Blakely has died after a long illness
August 11, 2014 “I should note that I don’t consider myself a literary critic,” Diann Blakely once wrote. “Rather, I am a passionate, studious, unfashionably earnest reader and an advocate for the books—especially books of poetry—I care deeply about.” These words could serve almost as a mission statement for Blakely’s entire life, which ended on August 5.
Legendary journalist John Seigenthaler has died at his home in Nashville
July 11, 2014 John Seigenthaler—revered reporter, editor, author, and advocate for books, civil rights, and the First Amendment—died today after a long struggle with cancer. He was eighty-six.
