Chapter 16 welcomes reader comments and emails. For other kinds of contributions, we offer the following guidelines. All potential contributors, as well as authors seeking coverage for their books, should note Chapter 16‘s AI policy stated below.
- Book coverage: If you are an author with a Tennessee connection and wish to have your book considered for review, contact the editor with full publication information (publisher, publication date, ISBN, and publicity contact). Do not send unsolicited review copies to the office of Humanities Tennessee. Please keep in mind that limited resources compel us to forgo covering many traditionally published books by Tennessee authors, and we lack the staff to vet the large number of self-published titles released each year.
- Poetry: We print poetry by invitation only, generally in the form of a book excerpt published in connection with a public reading. Please don’t send unsolicited poetry submissions.
- Essays: We welcome original essay submissions from anyone with a Tennessee connection. We aren’t interested in literary analysis, op-ed style arguments, or self-help prescriptions. We look for poetic essays, funny essays, thought-provoking essays — any essay that tells a true story in an engaging or imaginative way. To submit an essay for possible publication, please paste it into our contact form, which will deliver it to the editor of Chapter 16. Be sure to include a note explaining your Tennessee connection. Ideal length: 800-1,500 words, give or take a few hundred.
- Review contributors: Chapter 16 operates on an assignment basis, and reviews and interviews are generally assigned months in advance of a book’s appearance in stores. If you’d like to contribute book reviews in the future, please contact us with an email of introduction, along with links to your published reviews.
- Event coverage: We’re always eager to receive information about literary festivals and public conferences in Tennessee. Please note that we list individual author events solely in conjunction with our book coverage.
A note about AI:
The mission of Humanities Tennessee is to foster community and civility in the state through public programs that examine and reflect upon ideas, stories, history, arts, and culture. Chapter 16 serves this mission by chronicling and promoting the literary life of Tennessee. We place a high value on human creativity, individual expression, and literary craft, as well as accuracy and integrity in nonfiction work. The use of AI writing tools potentially undermines these values. It also threatens the intellectual property rights of authors at every level and thus weakens the very notion of authorship.
Given these concerns, our policy is not to publish any material or cover any books we know to be written or assisted by AI. We urge writers to approach AI with caution, mindful of the negative impact it may have on their own work and the work of their fellow writers.
Advertising at Chapter 16:
We offer advertising space for sale only to publishers, booksellers, and arts and cultural organizations. No more than four ads will run during the same period, with a different ad appearing randomly each time a reader clicks into the site or moves to a new page. Space is available for the following rates:
