Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Path to Authentic Voice

Award-winning author Ruta Sepetys offers a guide to the craft of writing

Ruta Sepetys — the award-winning, bestselling, Nashville-based author of five young adult historical novels — offers guidance for novice as well as experienced writers in You: The Story.

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Poisonous Dealings

Celia Bell’s debut novel encompasses black magic, murder, and subterfuge in 17th-century France

Baroness Marie Catherine finds herself tangled in a web of lies, crossdressing, and back-alley dealings in Celia Bell’s gripping debut novel, The Disenchantment. Bell will discuss the book at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 22.

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Some Weird Stuff’s Been Happening

Matthew Vollmer’s memoir considers the mysteries of the living and the dead

Matthew Vollmer’s All of Us Together in the End contemplates the certainties of life and its mysteries – whether natural or supernatural. Vollmer will discuss the book at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on May 23 and The Bookshop in Nashville on May 24.

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New Americana

Scott Gloden’s debut story collection delves into America’s identity dilemma

The Great American Everything received the C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize, given annually to an emerging writer from a Southern state. Despite the expressly regional tag, the stories in Scott Gloden’s debut collection could be called new Americana.

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Time’s Bridge

Teens work against the clock to save lives in a time-twisty murder mystery

Justin Warren, the protagonist of Lauren Thoman’s debut novel, I’ll Stop the World, finds himself in a bit of a pickle. It seems he’s suddenly time-traveled to the 1985 version of his hometown, where he has a week to solve a mystery and save his grandparents’ lives. Lauren Thoman will discuss her work at a “Birthing the Book” event hosted by The Porch in Nashville on May 11.

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An Oak Ridge Story

Half-Life of a Secret explores a family’s secrets and a nation’s silence

In Half-Life of a Secret, Emily Strasser tells the story of her grandfather, a chemist for Oak Ridge’s World War II Manhattan Project, and how family secrets intersect with national ones.

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