A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Open Secrets and Broken Promises

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.

Surviving the Curse of “Nowville”

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.

Surviving the Curse of “Nowville”

Dim Lights, Dark Hallways

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.

The Resentment Game

Martin and Ruby, the father-daughter tandem at the center of Lee Conell’s debut novel, The Party Upstairs, appear content living in the basement of an elegant New York apartment building. Over the course of a single day, however, their façades crumble, and hidden emotions explode to the surface.

The Resurrection Racket

In W.M. Akers’ Westside Saints, set in an alternative version of 1920s New York, detective Gilda Carr must solve mysteries surrounding the appearance of the dead, including her late mother.

All Aboard the Crazy Train

In Operation Dimwit, the second Penelope Lemon novel from Tennessee native Inman Majors, our plucky protagonist must stare down a suspicious cat, trap a trained skunk, and resist the intimidations of a weirdly competitive gym trainer.

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