Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Survival of the Hungriest

C Pam Zhang’s Land of Milk and Honey is set within an elite bubble in a poisoned world

In C Pam Zhang’s new novel, Land of Milk and Honey, an Asian-American chef escapes ecological catastrophe by going to work for an elite research community on a remote mountain in the Alps. C Pam Zhang will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 4.

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Forgotten Wars

Ron Rash’s latest, The Caretaker, is a haunted fable of love and loss

At the center of Ron Rash’s latest novel, The Caretaker, is Blackburn Gant, who does his best to look after both the dead and the living. Ron Rash will appear via Zoom with George Singleton at The Emporium in Knoxville on October 5.

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Difficult Choices, Few Options

Sadeqa Johnson’s The House of Eve surveys the possibilities for two young Black women in the 1950s

Sadeqa Johnson’s fifth novel, The House of Eve, is a story of young Black women in the pre-Roe era. Johnson will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Blood and Gold

Power, desire, and survival collide in Ben Fountain’s Devil Makes Three

Ben Fountain’s Devil Makes Three is a pulse-quickening adventure and espionage thriller set against the political turmoil of early 1990s Haiti. Fountain will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Between Two Worlds

In Evil Eye, a young woman navigates cultural crossroads in search of herself

The protagonist of Etaf Rum’s second novel, Evil Eye, struggles to carve out a place in two worlds without losing what she loves. Rum will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Avant-Garde Traditionalist

Taylor Hagood uncovers the life and death of country music icon David “Stringbean” Akeman

Taylor Hagood’s Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend lays out David Akeman’s life story and details the murder of Akeman and his wife, Estelle, at their house near Nashville on November 10, 1973.

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