Silas House’s The Tulip Poplars tells the story of four friends who come together as children in the fictional mountain town of Bright Star, Kentucky, and how their complicated relationships change and grow over five decades. Silas House will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18 and St. James Episcopal Church in Knoxville on October 22.
In Yiyun Li’s Music Against the Night, two young musical prodigies endure heartbreak and loss before finding love and fame in an era of upheaval in Europe. Yiyun Li will discuss Music Against the Night at Parnassus Books on October 15 as part of the 2026 Southern Festival of Books.
One day, a young Alabama farm boy named Charlie wakes up to a changed reality: the sudden, violent appearance of a volcano in his family’s cow pasture. This perplexing event reshapes all of their lives. Bradley Sides will discuss The Volcano Keeper at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18, at Novel in Memphis on October 22, and at The Book & Cover in Chattanooga on November 3.
In Barbara Kingsolver’s Partita, a middle-aged woman, once a promising concert pianist, remembers the summer when a passionate love affair destroyed her dreams of a musical career. Kingsolver will discuss Partita at Vanderbilt’s Langford Auditorium in Nashville on October 11 as part of the 2026 Southern Festival of Books.
Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston by Vanderbilt professor Emily Lordi stands as a reclamation of Houston’s story, placing her at the center not as an object but as the subject. Emily Lordi will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
Ayad Akhtar’s The Radiance is a story about memory, knowledge, academia, and desire. Akhtar will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
