The Rhythms of Grief
In her second poetry collection, Black Lake, Emily Skaja recalls a year of miscarriages and deep grief. Skaja will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on September 8.
Book Reviews
I Am in Between
In All the Sunshine in the World, her third middle-grade novel in verse, Nashville poet and educator Caroline Brooks Dubois once again examines the aftermath of tragedy in the life of a young girl. This time, her subject is the sudden, shocking loss of a sibling. The author will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
An Education and a Love Story
Chris Young’s The Wound Is Where the Light Enters: A Memoir of Resilience shows us what it’s like to grow up in poverty, land in prison, and survive to find love and redemption.
Putting Two and Two Together
The Foursome, the latest novel by Christina Baker Kline, illuminates a striking piece of American history that requires a bold but deft hand in retelling: the double marriage of two sisters from North Carolina to conjoined brothers Eng and Chang Bunker. Kline will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
Multiplicity of Belonging
With Maybe the Body, a delightfully ambitious and formally adventurous poetry collection, Asa Drake urges readers toward liminal spaces. Drake will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
Relax and Enjoy the Ride
In Backstory: A Literary Life on the Run, Lawrence Wells and Dean Faulkner Wells offer readers an enjoyable ride of their own through a collaborative collection of short pieces written between 1978 and Dean’s death in 2011. Lawrence Wells will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on August 22 and the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
