Chapter 16
A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Book Review

Unspoken Prayers

By Lauren Turner

Ashleigh Bryant Phillips’ debut story collection, Sleepovers, is set in the rural northeast corner of North Carolina where she was born and raised. Steeped in the specificities of place, her characters display plainspoken charm and a desperate sense of longing. Phillips will discuss Sleepovers with George Singleton at a virtual event hosted by Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on September 28; will appear at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11; and will participate in the Mirror House Reading Series, a virtual event hosted by The Porch in Nashville, on November 11.

Fascinated, Not Afraid

By Bradley Sides

“The more reptile facilities I’ve visited and festivals I’ve attended, the more photos I’ve browsed online, the more I’ve become fascinated rather than afraid,” says Erica Wright in Snake. She shows the reptiles some love in this deeply personal and highly readable essay collection.

Among Family

By Tracy Barrett

The War I Finally Won is the eagerly awaited sequel to Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Newbery Honor-winning middle-grade novel, The War That Saved My Life. Bradley will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 30.

What Truths We Can Stomach

By Emily Choate

In The Cadaver King and The Country Dentist, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington delve into the tangled history of two scientific “experts” in the Mississippi court system. Balko and Carrington will discuss The Cadaver King and The Country Dentist at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 10 at 2 p.m.

Welcome to the Machine

By Michael Ray Taylor

The Atomic City Girls by East Tennessee native Janet Beard is set within the top-secret “instant city” of Oak Ridge during World War II. Beard will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 13 and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 14.

To Call Forth By Noticing

By Bobby C. Rogers

It’s difficult to make a poetics out of forgiveness, but that’s what Lisa Dordal accomplishes in her new collection, Mosaic of the Dark. Dordal will give three Nashville readings: at The Post on February 6, at Atmalogy on February 9, and at the First Unitarian Universalist Church on February 21.

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