Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Readers Rejoice

The Southern Festival of Books returns

From haunting novels to true tales of kitchen ghosts, explorations of grief to celebrations of song, the Southern Festival of Books brings it all. The festival will take place in Nashville at Bicentennial Mall, the Tennessee State Museum, and the Tennessee State Library & Archives, October 26-27.

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Small Victories

In Jayne Anne Phillips’ prize-winning novel, West Virginia women find refuge after the Civil War

In Jayne Anne Phillips’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Night Watch, a group of women from the hills of West Virginia survive the horrors of the Civil War and find safety in a humane mental hospital. Phillips will discuss Night Watch at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.

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Not a Place to Visit

Reflections on You Are Here, a collection of contemporary nature poetry

For You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón commissioned 50 American poets to reflect on their unique place in the world, wherever they are and however they see it. Sara Beth West reflects on her journey with the collection.

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To Live on This Margin of Earth

Three debut poetry collections highlight the originality of their authors’ visions

Recently published debut poetry collections from Tara M. Stringfellow, Ben Groner III, and Stephanie Choi invite us into the particulars of their authors’ imaginative worlds.

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Looking Back on 50 Years of Tennessee Books

50 Books / HT50, Part 10: 2018-2022

This final installment of the 50 Book / HT 50 series features two Pulitzer Prize winners, a book about a controversial figure in the Civil Rights Movement, a richly imagined historical novel set in Nashville, and an award-winning collection of essays about the South. 

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Fletch Inhaled Twice

Reflecting on the influence of I.M. Fletcher and his creator, Gregory Mcdonald

Gregory Mcdonald’s 1974 novel Fletch created the modern comic mystery, influencing a generation of writers who followed. In addition to nine Fletch books, Mcdonald created such series characters as Flynn, Skylar, and Son of Fletch, writing many of those from his home near Pulaski, Tennessee.

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