The Southern Festival of Books, one of the oldest and largest literary events in the country, expects to welcome more than 25,000 attendees for panel discussions, book signings, and readings. In addition to 100 sessions over two days, the festival features more than 100 vendors, as well as food trucks and three performance stages for music, theater, spoken word, and poetry, as well as programming for children.
It was one of those perfect bluebird, big-sky Montana days. There was no wind. The temperature was warming, and the scent of sage was in the air. The river was big. I didn’t even know that streams that big and fast held trout. I was in a state of wonderment, and the river seemed mysterious, but in a good way. I was ready to begin solving the mystery.
In October 2017, former U.S. poet laureate Charles Wright, a Tennessee native who grew up in Kingsport, paid a visit to East Tennessee State University for an interview and public reading. His lively conversation with fellow poet Jesse Graves was recorded and transcribed, and Chapter 16 is publishing it for the first time in honor of Wright’s 90th birthday.
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: When he died in January 2022, historian John Rice Irwin was described as the “guardian of Appalachia’s past.” In a 2008 interview, he talked with poet Jesse Graves about his family and his life’s work.
Lorrie Moore’s work has been celebrated since her 1985 debut, the short story collection Self-Help. Her 1994 novel, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, had Nick Hornby naming her “the best American writer of her generation,” and her latest, I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moore will be the featured author for this year’s Writers@Work in Chattanooga, April 22-24.
In Complete Poetry of James Agee, editors Michael A. Lofaro and Jesse Graves present hundreds of never-before-seen writings.
