Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

“Penelope Looks Back”

Book Excerpt: Focal Point

Jenny Qi’s essays and poems have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Tin House, ZYZZYVA, Rattle, and elsewhere. Qi, a 2011 graduate of Vanderbilt University, holds a Ph.D. in biomedical science from the University of California, San Francisco and works as a competitive intelligence manager tracking research in oncology. Focal Point is her first book.

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Not as Different as We Think

Elizabeth Passarella on being a “muddled mashup of everything”

Raised in a conservative corner of Memphis, Elizabeth Passarella now makes her home in New York City, and Good Apple: Tales of a Southern Evangelical in New York tells her story: of moving to the city, getting married, becoming a Democrat, and raising a family, all while maintaining her unquenchable Christian faith.

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Freedom and Fries

Marcia Chatelain explains how McDonald’s intersects with the history of the civil rights movement

In her Pulitzer Prize-winning history Franchise, acclaimed historian Marcia Chatelain explains how the story of McDonald’s intersected with the civil rights movement. Chatelain will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis on February 8.

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Stepping into Their Own Power

Destiny O. Birdsong’s protagonists are true to themselves

In Destiny O. Birdsong’s triptych novel, Nobody’s Magic, three Black women with albinism negotiate a racially complicated world. Birdsong will discuss Nobody’s Magic at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 8.

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A Season of Storms

Jennifer Haigh’s Mercy Street considers the battle over abortion

In Jennifer Haigh’s new novel Mercy Street, snow blankets the Boston area as characters with connections to a women’s health clinic attempt to make sense of their chaotic lives. Haigh will discuss Mercy Street in a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books on February 7.

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No Regrets

When is it time to let go of a book?

I have donated my collection of books on writing to my local library. Why?

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