Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

More than a Dream

Jon Meacham delivers a rich account of a life built on protest and hope

In His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham, a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt, has written a moving, rigorously researched account of the late congressman’s life, with an afterword written by Lewis himself. Meacham will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 25.

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Queen’s Rules

Late R&B legend Denise LaSalle always called her own shots

Always the Queen: The Denise LaSalle Story offers a candid account of the life of the late R&B icon. This posthumous memoir, written with blues historian David Whiteis, also serves as an entertaining and boldly rendered look into the history of the musical genre LaSalle loved.

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“There’s No Way to Know Which Dragonfly is My Brother”

A 14-year-old makes a difficult journey of self-discovery

Award-winning author Kacen Callender returns to middle-grade fiction with King and the Dragonflies. King is convinced that his much-loved older brother, Khalid, became a dragonfly after he died suddenly. King has to struggle through his own and his family’s grief while grappling with the nature of friendship and his questions about his sexuality. Callender will appear at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

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Battered by the Bomb

Within a love triangle, broken characters seek healing from the wounds of war

The war is over, but deep and debilitating scars remain in Jennie Fields’ novel, Atomic Love, set in 1950s Chicago. When an FBI agent asks a former Manhattan Project nuclear physicist to investigate her former lover, who is accused of treason, her quiet life is turned upside down. Jennie Fields will discuss Atomic Love at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 18.

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Deciphering Life

Jill McCorkle’s Hieroglyphics explores the intricate passages of memory, time, and love

“We are all haunted by something — something we did or didn’t do — and the passing years either add to the weight or diminish it.” Those are the words of Lil, the loving but wounded woman at the heart of Jill McCorkle’s new novel, Hieroglyphics. The tormenting power of memory, and conflicting desires to escape and interrogate the past, shape the lives of all the characters in this poignant, deeply human story. Jill McCorkle will discuss Hieroglyphics at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 10 and at the 2020 Southern Festival of Books, held online October 1-11.

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Diverse and Complicated

Three Appalachian women tell their stories in Voices Worth the Listening

Thomas Burton’s Voices Worth the Listening: Three Women of Appalachia invites readers into the lives of three women from the Blue Ridge Mountains, allowing them to tell their unique stories of struggle and resilience.

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