Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Not Quite a New Day

Three recent poetry collections seek form and language to reflect an uncertain world

In three recent poetry collections — Blas Falconer’s Rara Avis, Danielle Chapman’s Boxed Juice, and Todd Osborne’s Gatherer — our world’s inherent uncertainty takes center stage, fueling each poet’s inquiry into how our everyday lives (and our deeper internal longings) can survive the unknowable.

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Punching Hitler in the Mouth

Two smart teens protect their country and their family in war-torn England

“I am Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Novis. … I am the candidate most likely to violate the Official Secrets Act. And I will be convicted of treason when I do.” Lizzie is half of the talented brother/sister team at the center of The Bletchley Riddle, a World War II novel for middle-grade readers by an equally talented team: award-winning writers Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin.

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On the Brink

Amina Gautier’s stories capture women in moments of metamorphosis

In The Best That You Can Do, a new story collection, Amina Gautier depicts women in the process of growing up and moving on. Gautier, a professor at the University of Miami, is a former fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

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Cracks in the Foundation

Phyllis Gobbell’s Prodigal depicts the drama of a fractured family

Phyllis Gobbell’s novel Prodigal explores the impact of a son’s return to his family in the wake of his grandmother’s sudden death. Phyllis Gobbell will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 21.

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A Light on in the Mica Windows

Joy Harjo’s Poet Warrior illuminates her journey with words

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Blending poetry and prose, Joy Harjo’s second memoir, Poet Warrior, braids her story of becoming an accomplished poet and modern Native woman — always guided by her ancestors in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation — into the larger context of Native history.

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A Singular Life

A collaborative memoir details the life of Lisa Marie Presley

In From Here to the Great Unknown, Lisa Marie Presley and her daughter Riley Keough offer up a memoir filled with details salacious, sorrowful, and deeply sentimental. The story belongs mostly to Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and she holds nothing back about her wild and singular life.

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