A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Fiction

The Magazine at the Corner of Second and Church

By Tina LoTufo

December 10, 2012 In May 2011, Roy Burkhead was hit by a car at the intersection of Church Street and 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville. (He was not seriously injured.) In many people, such an experience might spark musings on mortality, but for Burkhead it sparked the idea for a literary journal. “This event forced me to pause and look around,” he says. “I was interested to realize just how many different aspects of Nashville were represented from this particular spot of town. Maybe it was the impact of the bumper, but I started to ponder that this specific spot could work as a great metaphor, a virtual location in this actual city.” One year later, he published the first issue of 2nd & Church.

Justice in Post-Peace Ireland

By Ralph Bowden

December 4, 2012 Originally from Belfast, Knoxville author James B. Johnston left Ireland in 1974, during “the Troubles,” but no Irish native can ever escape the effects of that period. Everyone in Ireland knows somebody—probably many people—who were killed or injured during that time. The Belfast Peace Agreement of 1998 stopped most of the violence, finally, but didn’t entirely settle issues of justice, retribution, and punishment. Johnston’s new novel, The Price of Peace, sets up a fictional case involving a bombing and retribution designed to explore those issues. Is real justice possible after the Peace accord?

Mischief in Memphis

By Sarah Norris

November 28, 2012 Steve Stern is “quite famous for being unknown,” according to The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper. Since 1983, the Memphis native has published twelve novels and short-story collections; many of them have fallen out of print, but his work invariably receives prestigious awards and overwhelmingly rave reviews. Stern’s latest, The Book of Mischief, is a collection of new and selected stories inspired by Yiddish folklore. The book offers an opportunity for new readers to familiarize themselves with Stern’s work and for loyal fans to revisit some A-list stories and at the same time discover new gems.

Trouble in Tammyland

By Chris Scott

November 26, 2012 Emily Arsenault’s third mystery features extensive excerpts from a fictional memoir, a pregnant detective, and a strong undercurrent of Nashville’s music heritage. In a world in which most mysteries are plot- or character-driven, Miss Me When I’m Gone can fairly claim to be driven by relationships—the kinds of relationships that have inspired many a country song.

"The Highest Honor My Work Can Receive"

By Susannah Felts

November 20, 2012 In 1999, the award-winning, bestselling novelist Barbara Kingsolver founded The Bellwether Prize, an award given biennially to an unpublished debut novel that addresses matters of social justice and responsibility. Carrying a $25,000 prize—funded entirely by Kingsolver herself—and a publishing contract, the Bellwether is “designed to be a career-founding event for writers with outstanding literary skills, moral passion, and the courage to combine these strengths in unusually powerful fiction,” as Kingsolver’s website puts it. Susannah Felts will interview Naomi Benaron and Hillary Jordan, two Bellwether winners, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 29 at 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Fly Away Home

By Sean Kinch

November 19, 2012 Barbara Kingsolver’s epic 1998 novel, The Poisonwood Bible, offers a profound inquiry into the nature of faith and the meaning of family. At its core, her new novel asks another fundamental question: “Where will we go from here?” On November 27, Barbara Kingsolver will discuss Flight Behavior at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series. The event begins at 6:15 p.m.; doors open at 5:45.

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