George Saunders shares his passion for 19th-century Russian masters of the short story
In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders relates the insights he has gathered from 20 years of teaching 19th-century Russian short stories to aspiring writers. Saunders will discuss the book at a ticketed virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 19.
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Michael Farris Smith imagines the troubled pre-Gatsby years of Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway
In Nick, a new novel depicting the life of Nick Carraway before the turbulent summer of The Great Gatsby, Michael Farris Smith drags his hero through war, heartbreak, and the violent underworld of New Orleans.
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Daniel Hornsby’s novel Via Negativa follows a retired priest’s troubled pilgrimage
In Via Negativa, the debut novel by Memphis writer Daniel Hornsby, a homeless priest and a wounded coyote travel across America on a quest for reconciliation and revenge.
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In David James Poissant’s Lake Life, a family’s farewell to their summer home leads to traumatic reckoning
In David James Poissant’s first novel, Lake Life, the Starling family gathers in their crumbling vacation home for one last weekend. Over 48 hours, long-buried secrets are revealed and lives are overturned. Poissant will discuss Lake Life at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.
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Greetings from New Nashville considers the city’s transformation and its future
In Greetings from New Nashville, a collection of essays edited by Steve Haruch, contributors grapple with the rise of the city as a tourist destination and the municipal issues that have arisen as a result. Haruch will discuss Greetings from New Nashville at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.
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In Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, a neuroscientist tries to makes sense of her family’s unraveling
In Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, Gifty, a first-generation American whose family immigrated from Ghana, learns young that religion cannot explain her family’s misfortunes, so she turns to science for answers. Gyasi will discuss Transcendent Kingdom at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.
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