“My name is Mary Laura, and I am addicted to getting things right.” In I Miss You When I Blink, Mary Laura Philpott, co-host of Nashville Public Television’s A Word on Words and founding editor of Parnassus Books’ digital magazine, Musings, delivers a witty, whimsical, deeply moving meditation on facing down despair and finding joy in imperfection. Philpott will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 1 and at Novel in Memphis on April 17.
Nashville author River Jordan covers a lot of ground in Confessions of a Christian Mystic, a book that’s part memoir, part religious testimony, and part lyrical meditation. Jordan will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 29, and at Novel in Memphis on April 25.
Life is more than a little complicated for the twelve-year-old protagonist of Ashley Herring Blake’s new middle-grade novel, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James. Once Sunny makes it through her heart transplant, she faces even bigger hurdles. Blake will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 26.
In Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe, a Silicon Valley veteran explains how social-media networks erode the well-being of people and societies. Roger McNamee will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 27.
In Full Court Press: How Pat Summit, A High School Basketball Player, and a Legal Team Changed the Game, Bill Haltom and Amanda Swanson recount the legal battle that led to important changes in girls’ basketball in Tennessee. Bill Haltom will discuss Full Court Press at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 16.
To mark its tenth anniversary, Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival now has a book, Big Ears Knoxville, with photographs by Kate Joyce, a preface by Ben Ratliff, and essays by Rachel Grimes and Joe Henry. Based on performances from 2014 to 2018, the book will launch at the 2019 festival, held in Knoxville March 21–24.
