Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The First Novel

The Hero of This Book ponders the story of a mother and daughter

Elizabeth McCracken’s new novel, The Hero of This Book, offers a dazzling, prismatic story of an author reflecting on her mother and her writing. McCracken will discuss the book with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 10.

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Irrepressible Artist

Steve Stern paints a fictional portrait of Chaim Soutine

Steve Stern’s The Village Idiot, a fictionalized account of the life of painter Chaim Soutine, dives into the relationships, politics, and context that shaped his often overlooked masterworks. Stern will appear at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on October 13.

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Making It in Music City

Margo Price’s Maybe We’ll Make It is an artist’s unflinching self-portrait

Margo Price’s Maybe We’ll Make It recalls her gritty struggle for a music career. Price will appear in Nashville at Grimey’s New and Preloved Music on October 4, the 2022 Southern Festival of Books on October 14-16, and Parnassus Books on November 16.

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Sunset of the American Century

Victoria Shorr’s Mid-Air is an intimate portrait of 20th-century America

Victoria Shorr’s Mid-Air, a collection of two novellas, portrays the fall of a patrician New York family and the rise of an immigrant family to wealth and influence; both celebrate mid-20th-century America, an era fading from living memory. Shorr will discuss Mid-Air at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.  

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Still Alive

Death haunts the essays in Rachel Kushner’s The Hard Crowd

Rachel Kushner’s The Hard Crowd gathers two decades of the critically acclaimed novelist’s personal narratives and critical writing. Kushner will appear at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.

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The Bucket List

In Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s The Evening Hero, a retired doctor confronts his long-buried past

In Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s The Evening Hero, a recently retired doctor reckons his regrets and blessings decades after immigrating to Minnesota from war-torn Korea. Lee will discuss The Evening Hero at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 14-16.

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