2024 Southern Festival of Books

A Revolving Door of Death

Steven Hale lays bare the humanity of those condemned on Tennessee’s death row

By Liz Garrigan | October 25, 2024

Between 2018 and 2020, Tennessee state officials killed seven men by electrocution or lethal injection, more than any other state in the country except Texas. In Death Row Welcomes You, journalist Steven Hale tells the stories of the condemned and the people who have come to know and love them. He also exposes the arbitrary nature of the death penalty and the hypocrisy of Tennessee governors. Hale will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Lambs to Slaughter

Bret Anthony Johnston’s We Burn Daylight sets doomed teenage love against religious conflagration

By Emily Choate | October 24, 2024

In We Burn Daylight, Bret Anthony Johnston evokes Romeo and Juliet’s teenage lovers amid a religious community’s fiery standoff with authorities that closely parallels the 1993 Waco siege. Bret Anthony Johnston will discuss We Burn Daylight at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 26-27.

“Threadbare”

Book Excerpt: Winter Sharp with Apples

By Annette Sisson | October 23, 2024

Annette Sisson is the author of Small Fish in High Branches (2022). Her poems have been published in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Cider Press Review, Aeolian Harp Anthology, and elsewhere. She is a professor of English at Belmont University in Nashville. Sisson will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

The Real World

Quantum physics meets reality TV to create an entertaining and thought-provoking puzzle

By Tina Chambers | October 22, 2024

“It was real. A TV show that could literally alter the fabric of reality to change one’s life.” This is the premise of Peng Shepherd’s novel All This and More. Shepherd will discuss All This and More at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Trepidation Is Big Business

Jonathan Metzl wants to reframe the gun debate

By Sean Kinch | October 18, 2024

In What We’ve Become, Vanderbilt professor Jonathan Metzl demonstrates why gun reform has failed and offers new strategies for changing the debate. Metzl will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

People and Place

Bonnie Jo Campbell’s The Waters is a story of metamorphosis

By Bianca Sass | October 17, 2024

Told in the cadence of a fairytale, Bonnie Jo Campbell’s novel The Waters follows a family of women and the unique place they inhabit. Campbell will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker