Chapter 16 - Part 85

Finding Her Literary Voice in the South

Bestselling novelist Cathie Pelletier reflects on her move from Maine to Tennessee

By John Egerton | July 5, 2022

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Cathie Pelletier, a native of Maine, fell in love with Tennessee when she and a friend hitch-hiked down South over thirty years ago. After moving to Nashville in 1976, Pelletier found inspiration in almost everything, from the bars frequented by songwriters to the smell of springtime wisteria. Today, she talks about her time in Tennessee and the way it has shaped her writing.

You Are What You Cook

Michael Pollan talks with Chapter 16 about his groundbreaking new book, Cooked

By Paul V. Griffith | July 1, 2022

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Michael Pollan apprentices himself to four culinary experts: a barbeque pit-master, a brazier, a baker, and a fermenter. By mastering their techniques, he writes, we can wrest the kitchen away from Big Food and reclaim both our food chain and our selves.

Visible Signs

I’m looking for whatever support comes along, earthly and otherworldly

By Linda Parsons | June 30, 2022

I’m a believer in synchronicity: one sighting begets another — the more you see, the more you get — like these spiraled pearls outside my door just as summer ends, on the cusp of bittersweetness when losses cut deeper in autumn, bleed into the brilliant dying back.

“A House in the Country”

Book Excerpt: Blue If Only I Could Tell You

By Richard Tillinghast | June 29, 2022

Richard Tillinghast’s latest poetry collection, Blue If Only I Could Tell You, won the 27th annual White Pine Press Poetry Prize. He’ll read from his work at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 6.

Hanging with the Dead

Intrigue abounds in a town where ghosts are less threatening than the living

By Tina Chambers | June 28, 2022

With The Promise of Lost Things, Nashville writer Helene Dunbar adds another page-turning chapter to the story of St. Hilaire, New York, and its spooky residents – both living and dead – begun in her 2020 novel, Prelude for Lost Souls. Dunbar will discuss the book at Parnassus Books in Nashville on July 27.

Nothing Contrived

Stories from the Attic is the final collection by William Gay

By Wayne Catan | June 27, 2022

When William Gay died suddenly in 2012, he left behind a considerable amount of unpublished work that has been slowly making its way into print. The final posthumous release, due in July, is Stories from the Attic, a collection of short stories, essays, and fragments from works-in-progress.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher