Bret Anthony Johnston shares the details of his writing process
“Family life seems given to a kind of emotional suspense, which in no way feels less tense or compelling than other kinds of suspense.” Prior to his November 7 reading at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Bret Anthony Johnston talks about creativity, collusion with imaginary characters, and his acclaimed novel, Remember Me Like This.
Girl meets house, house has ghosts, in Cherie Priest’s new novel
With the continued existence of her family’s Nashville salvage business hanging in the balance, Dahlia Dutton leads a work team to dismantle an old house—an old haunted house—in Chattanooga in Cherie Priest’s delightfully spooky The Family Plot.
In work and life, Dorothy Allison defies narrow categories
Whether she’s writing about her tough, spirited characters or her own difficult life, Dorothy Allison seems determined to defy all narrow categories, seeking instead to express the full complexity of human experience. Allison, who serves as the 2016 Acuff Chair at the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at Austin Peay State University, will speak on October 27 at 8 p.m. in Clement Auditorium on the APSU campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Memphis writer Jamey Hatley wins two national grants for work in progress
Jamey Hatley has received a total of $55,000 this year from the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and the National Endowment for the Arts to work on her first novel, The Dream-Singers. The book is set in Memphis, beginning with the birth of twins in 1968—one born as Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his final speech and the other when he is assassinated.
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Virginia Reeves explores the way a passion for work can imprison the worker
In her debut novel, Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves explores the nature of work, how it defines and shapes families. Reeves will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16.
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Helen Ellis dishes on poker, Twitter, and American Housewife
Whether she’s cracking “Southern Lady Code,” chronicling a neighborly dispute that metastasizes into an epic battle, or skewering the conventions of reality television, Helen Ellis manages to be both outrageous and utterly believable. Ellis will discuss American Housewife at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16.
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