Titanfall, Noah Soltau’s debut poetry collection, was shortlisted for the Arthur Smith Poetry Prize. Soltau’s recent work appears in Cutleaf, storySouth, and elsewhere, and he is the managing editor of The Red Branch Review. Raised in Chattanooga and educated in the South and Germany, Soltau lives with his wife and two daughters in East Tennessee.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Nashvillian Annette Sisson’s first book of poetry, Small Fish in High Branches, was released in 2022 by Glass Lyre Press. Her poems have appeared in Birmingham Poetry Review, Nashville Review, and One. Her chapbook, A Casting Off, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019.
Otis Sanford’s Newsman: The Road from Route 2 Box 9 surveys the author’s life from a childhood in rural Mississippi to a 50-year career in journalism. Sanford will appear at Bookstock at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis on May 2.
Richard Collins’ Cartoons for the Chaos: Poems 1975-2025, was published in March 2026. His previous books include John Fante: A Literary Portrait, No Fear Zen, In Search of the Hermaphrodite: A Memoir, and Stone Nest. Since 2016 he has been abbot of the New Orleans Zen Temple and now resides in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he directs Stone Nest Zen Dojo.
Jeremy Lloyd, an educator at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, writes about the many forms of sustenance to be found in the natural world in Forest Time: Footnotes to an Outdoor Education. Lloyd will appear at Tree Fest Knoxville on April 24, Flock Beer & Wine in Knoxville on April 28, and Neighborly Books in Maryville on May 6.
It was one of those perfect bluebird, big-sky Montana days. There was no wind. The temperature was warming, and the scent of sage was in the air. The river was big. I didn’t even know that streams that big and fast held trout. I was in a state of wonderment, and the river seemed mysterious, but in a good way. I was ready to begin solving the mystery.
