Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Way Back: A Geechee Homecoming

Neesha Powell-Ingabire’s Come by Here revives the complex history of coastal Georgia

In their debut memoir-in-essays, Come by Here, Neesha Powell-Ingabire returns home to Georgia’s Geechee coast, unearthing regional histories while igniting a path to personal healing. Powell-Ingabire will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Read more

Taking Up Space on the Page

Renée Watson makes room for Black women in a divine exploration of family, friendship, and romance

Renée Watson’s debut adult novel, skin & bones, is an adoring love letter to fat Black women. Watson will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27. 

Read more

Tragicomic Collaboration

Tyler Mahan Coe limns a legendary country music marriage in Cocaine and Rhinestones

In Cocaine and Rhinestones: A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Tyler Mahan Coe explains how the two greatest singers in country music history balanced conservatism and innovation in a blatantly commercial genre. Coe will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Read more

Revelation and Revolution

Joan Baez’s debut poetry collection excavates her painful past

Iconic folk singer and activist Joan Baez mines her life for catharsis in her first book of poetry, When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance. Baez will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Read more

A Steely Commitment to Change

Historian David Greenberg explores John Lewis’ lifetime of making good trouble

John Lewis’ career in public affairs spanned over 60 years, and he came to embody past, present, and future. In John Lewis: A Life, historian David Greenberg explores how the civil rights icon’s moral compass guided him from decade to decade. David Greenberg will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

Read more

In Collapse There Is Light

Three new collections illuminate times of transformation

In their latest collections, poets Erin Hoover, L.S. McKee, and Shuly Xóchitl Cawood locate moments of insight, challenge, and transformative power in even the darkest aspects of contemporary life. Erin Hoover will appear at ArtsBuild in Chattanooga on October 12.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING