Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Meet Me Deep in This Mystery

Moments of internal reckoning resonate in three recent poetry collections

In three recent poetry collections by Tennessee authors, moments of internal reckoning take center stage. Katherine Smith’s Secret City, Darius Stewart’s Intimacies in Borrowed Light, and Tyler Friend’s Him or Her or Whatever all foreground highly subjective perspectives in resonant conflict with the world around them.

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Ministering to the Least of These

A family learns about grace from a death row prisoner 

He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row, by Suzanne Craig Robertson, chronicles the relationship between her family and death row prisoner Cecil Johnson. Robertson will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 21.

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Speaking Ida’s Truth for a New Generation

Michelle Duster writes a children’s book about her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth, written by Wells’ great-granddaughter Michelle Duster, captures the life and work of the groundbreaking journalist and civil rights advocate.

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True Feeling, Not Magic

An appreciation of Louise Erdrich, recipient of the 2022 Nashville Public Library Literary Award

Louise Erdrich, the 2022 Nashville Public Library Literary Award honoree, will give a free public lecture at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Nashville on November 12 at 10:00.

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We’re Back, Baby!

A booklover’s guide to the Southern Festival of Books

The festival is about love. Love for the beautiful words that move and delight us, love for the authors who put those words on paper and screen, and love for the culture and community of the book.

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