Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

A World on Fire

In Eric Barnes’ Above the Ether, survivors of global catastrophe seek new beginnings

Eric Barnes’ Above the Ether follows characters who survive flood, fire, and pestilence in an attempt to start anew in the burned-out shell of an industrial city. Eric Barnes will discuss Above the Ether at Novel in Memphis on June 11.

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A Queendom Under the Sea

In Sea Sirens by Amy Chu and Janet K. Lee, young readers take an underwater fantasy adventure

Illustrator Janet K. Lee will celebrate the release of the graphic novel Sea Sirens, her collaboration with comic book writer Amy Chu, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 11.

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Where Food Meets Science

Amanda Little’s The Fate of Food considers the future of our global table

Nashville author Amanda Little traveled the globe—touching down in orchards, fields, oceans, and science labs—to research her new book The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World. She’ll appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 13.

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This Land is Our Land

Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw uncover the soul of America through its songs

In a new collaboration, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham and Grammy Award-winning musician Tim McGraw explore music’s influence on the American soul, telling the story of our nation through the works of poets, composers, gospel choirs, folk singers, and rock-and-rollers.

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Beyond the Crossroads Myth

In Up Jumped the Devil, Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow upend popular fantasies about Robert Johnson

In an important and revealing new biography, Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson,  revered blues scholars Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow separate the truths from the myths in popular accounts of the musician’s life.

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Waging War Through an Ethic of Care

In To Live Here, You Have to Fight, Jessica Wilkerson examines the role of women activists in Appalachia

In To Live Here, You Have to Fight, Jessica Wilkerson sets out to show that women were consistently present, active, and influential in social-justice and labor movements in twentieth-century Appalachia, bringing with them the insistence that their roles as caregivers be counted as worthy aspects of citizenship.

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