Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Life is Not a Bard’s Song

Madeline Miller reframes and retells the story of Homer’s Circe

Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles, is back with Circe, another brilliant revamp of tales and characters drawn from Homeric poetry. Miller will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 11.

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At the Intersection of Real and Not Real

Leah Stewart’s latest novel shines a spotlight on the art of acting under pressure

Ostensibly the story of a kidnapping, Leah Stewart’s clever new novel, What You Don’t Know About Charlie Outlaw, is also an examination of the cult of celebrity. Stewart, a Vanderbilt graduate, will appear at Novel in Memphis on April 11 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 13.

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Celebrating a Good Cry

Nikki Giovanni’s most recent collection centers on joy and pain

Celebrated poet, children’s author, essayist, and activist Nikki Giovanni will deliver the Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville on April 5.

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The Allure of the Absolutes

Alan Lightman revisits eternal questions in Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine

In a new collection of essays, Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, Memphis native and acclaimed novelist Alan Lightman seeks to reconcile the material and the mystical.

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Life, Love, and Emily Dickinson

In Ashley Herring Blake’s Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, a young girl considers her own identity

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World is Ashley Herring Blake’s new middle-grade novel about one girl’s quest to understand friendship, identity, and Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

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Mississippi Voices

Ann Fisher-Wirth and Maude Schuyler Clay explore a state’s compelling character in Mississippi

In Mississippi, poet Ann Fisher-Wirth and photographer Maude Schuyler Clay create a nuanced portrait that transcends the usual Southern stereotypes. Both authors will appear at Burke’s Books in Memphis on March 29 at 5:30 p.m.

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