Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Into the Arena

Clay Risen explains how Teddy Roosevelt helped usher America onto the world stage

In The Crowded Hour, Nashville native Clay Risen offers more than just a rousing retelling of the well-known story of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. He also shows how the famous regiment and their more famous leader helped remake not only America but the world. Risen will appear at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on June 8.

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There’s No Place Like Home

Filmmaker Michael Ford’s love for Mississippi takes a new form

Michael Ford will discuss North Mississippi Homeplace, a photo essay documenting his travels in Mississippi from 1972 to 1975 and from 2013 to 2018, at Novel in Memphis on June 3.

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My One and Only Now and Forever

In Mary Miller’s Biloxi, a border collie leads a man in crisis out of ennui to enlightenment

With Biloxi, Mary Miller delivers a whimsical Southern tragicomedy that evokes both Eudora Welty and Joy Williams. Miller will appear at Novel in Memphis on May 29

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Taking Stock of the South

Tony Horwitz revisits the complex character of life below the Mason-Dixon Line

In Spying on the South, Tony Horwitz adds another formidable and lively chapter to the continuing examination of Southern culture that he began with his acclaimed 1998 bestseller Confederates in the Attic. Horwitz will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 21.

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Trapped in the Wrong Body

Meredith Russo’s new YA novel asks what you should do when everybody who “knows” you is wrong

In Birthday, Stonewall Award-winning novelist Meredith Russo traces the painful path Morgan must take to live as her true self. In installments spaced a year apart, Morgan travels from confusion to self-loathing—and finally to acceptance.

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In Colder Blood

Casey Cep’s Furious Hours tells the true story of Harper Lee’s plan to out-Capote her old friend Truman Capote

Casey Cep structures Furious Hours, her debut nonfiction book, around three leading characters: an Alabama serial killer, the lawyer who defended him, and novelist Harper Lee, who hoped to write their story. Cep will discuss the book at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on May 17.

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