Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The State of the Workers

An Arkansas journalist reveals hard truths about the food industry

Alice Driver’s Life and Death of the American Worker tells the stories of the men and women who labor for a food industry giant. Driver will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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How to Start a Civil War

Erik Larson puts the reader in the action during the lead-up to America’s deadliest conflict

In The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, bestselling author Erik Larson offers a compelling and sobering account of the months between the 1860 presidential election and the attack on Fort Sumter. Larson will appear at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on October 24 as part of the 2024 Southern Festival of Books. 

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Among the Lost

Women struggle against constraints in Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods

A missing 13-year-old girl at an Adirondack summer camp spurs an exploration of family dysfunction in Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods. Moore will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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“Bingo Cemetery, Green Mountains, Vermont”

Book Excerpt: My Infinity

Didi Jackson is the author of the poetry collections My Infinity (2024) and Moon Jar (2020). Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Bomb, The New Yorker, and Oxford American. She lives in Nashville and teaches creative writing at Vanderbilt University. She’ll appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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The Bewilderment of Memory

Characters can’t escape the past in Jill McCorkle’s Old Crimes

Jill McCorkle’s new story collection resonates with sympathy for characters struggling to make peace with themselves and those they love. McCorkle will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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A Tale of Two Families

Rachel Khong’s Real Americans explores identity and ambition

Real Americans, Rachel Khong’s second novel, explores the lives of two families of vastly different socioeconomic status. This vivid, multigenerational tale delves into the heart of what it means to be American and the paths of aspiration, success, and disappointment that come to define a life. Khong will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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