A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

A Great and Challenging Game

September 14, 2011 Corey Mesler has eight books of poetry and fiction to his credit and has received praise from the likes of John Grisham and Robert Olen Butler, but he’s probably best known to his fellow Memphians as the co-owner of Burke’s Books, a venerable store founded in 1875. With two new books this year—Before the Great Troubling, a volume of poetry, and a collection of short fiction, Notes Toward the Story & Other Stories—he talks with Chapter 16 about his art and his business. Mesler will read and sign Before the Great Troubling and Notes Toward the Story & Other Stories at Burke’s Books on September 15 at 6 p.m.

A Great and Challenging Game

Runaway

September 13, 2011 Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber is structured like literary Chinese handcuffs: no character in this book can be free without first moving closer to the others, and no reader can finish it without looping backwards, too, through her own history. Abu-Jaber will discuss and sign copies of Birds of Paradise at the Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on September 21 at 6 p.m.

Defeating Dementia

September 2, 2011 In his new novel, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Walter Mosley handles themes of family, aging, and death with the confidence and grace of an author who has published thirty-nine books and received the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. What may be more stunning than the brilliance of this novel, however, is that it was published within six months of both Mosley’s political memoir and the latest installment of his popular Leonid McGill detective series—just one of the several Mosley creations being developed for television, film, and the stage. Mosley recently spoke by phone with Chapter 16 in advance of his appearance at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.

Defeating Dementia

Anything for Art

September 1, 2011 In his funny, whimsical debut novel, The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson creates a familiar family drama with an outrageous twist. Kevin Wilson will appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.

An Honest Woman

August 26, 2011 Already pushing forty, Georgia Bottoms somehow remains the legendary bombshell of Six Points, Alabama, without missing a single Sunday service at the First Baptist Church, and despite a revolving-door cast of gentleman—including the pastor, the sheriff, a prominent judge, and a bank president—all of whom are devoted to her charms and completely unaware that they are not the only “caller” entertained by Miss Georgia in her garage-apartment boudoir. Mark Childress will read from his hilarious new novel, Georgia Bottoms, at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.

In the Valley of the Shadow

August 25, 2011 In Barry Kitterman’s new story collection, From the San Joaquin, ordinary men and women seeking a brighter future—a home, a job, a love affair, a wedding, a child—face defeat as a result of difficult circumstances and their own inadequacies. Often the painful events of the past intrude upon the characters’ lives to change the course of their future, and rarely for the better. Ultimately, though, the author suggests that a meaningful life lies less in the accomplishments of years and more in the significance of each small moment truly lived. Kitterman will appear at the 2011 Southern Festival of Books, held October 14-16 in Nashville.

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