Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Vernacular of Beyond

Author and naturalist Janisse Ray advocates for wildness

In books like Wild Spectacle and Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Georgia author, naturalist, author, and farmer Janisse Ray communicates profound reverence for the profuse complexity within our world’s ecosystems. Ray will be the keynote speaker at the MTSU Write Conference in Murfreesboro on October 7.

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The Work of Secrecy

The Girls of Atomic City tells the stories of women in wartime Oak Ridge

Denise Kiernan’s 2013 book The Girls of Atomic City chronicles the experiences of women working in the secrecy-shrouded town of Oak Ridge during WWII. The author will join Jane Marcellus to discuss the book on Facebook Live on September 19.

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Southern Festival of Books Announces 2023 Lineup of Award-Winning Authors, Poets, and Literary Legends

More than 150 authors to appear for panels, book signings, readings, and discussions

Timothy Egan, Terrance Hayes, Ann Patchett, Lee Smith, and Etaf Rum are just a few of the authors on the roster for the 35th annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville on October 21-22. Friday, October 20, will be a Student Day, with featured authors including Carl Hiaasen.

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A Living Pulse

Past and present mingle in collections by Loving, Shockley, and Underwood

In their recently published collections, poets Denton Loving, Evie Shockley, and Susan O’Dell Underwood each find an original expression for the mingling of past and present that presses at the edges of contemporary life.

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A Vessel for the Story

Alice Faye Duncan’s books chronicle Black perseverance, past and present

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Two nonfiction books for children by Memphis writer Alice Faye Duncan illuminate “what it means to be free.” 

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