Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

ICE Breaker

For the immigrant mother and son of The Leavers, America is in the heart

In Lisa Ko’s new novel, The Leavers, a Chinese-American worker disappears from the life of her eleven-year-old son, who is subsequently adopted by a white couple. Ko will join Weike Wang, author of Chemistry, in a conversation moderated by Ann Patchett. The event will take place at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 1 at 6:30 p.m.

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A Tragic Crossing

Michel Stone’s Border Child tracks the grim plight of fictional Mexican parents facing an unbearable loss

In her new novel, Border Child, Michel Stone tells the story of a young Mexican couple who gamble on a border crossing and lose their baby to a kidnapper in the process. Stone will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 10 at 6:30 p.m.

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Not On Our Watch

How the National Endowment for the Humanities helped save literature in Tennessee

With the White House proposing to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities, Chapter 16’s editor looks back at a time when NEH funds rescued writers in Tennessee.

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It’s All Gone Now

Richard Bausch delineates the complexity of the human heart

Long considered one of American literature’s most accomplished writers of short fiction, Richard Bausch returns with a collection of misbegotten protagonists navigating the travails of the modern malaise.

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Pickin’ and Killin’ in Music City

Peggy O’Neal Peden’s home-grown thriller is a winner

Campbell Hale is not in the music business, but her interest in a country legend may get her killed anyway. Peggy O’Neal Peden will read from her debut mystery, Your Killin’ Heart, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 7 at 2 p.m.

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We Love Imperfectly

In Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout explores the intricacies of human frailty

The subtle elegance and beauty of Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout’s new collection of linked stories, will further cement the author as one of her era’s most gifted and compassionate chroniclers of human frailty. Strout will discuss Anything is Possible at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 27 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are required to join the signing line and are available with purchase of the book from Parnassus.

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