Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston by Vanderbilt professor Emily Lordi stands as a reclamation of Houston’s story, placing her at the center not as an object but as the subject. Emily Lordi will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
In Cormac McCarthy: A Legacy Revisited, author Tracy Daugherty tells the story of a literary icon who lived life to the fullest and a flawed man who put the writing above all else.
The celebrated nature writer Robert Macfarlane journeys to three continents to confront the question in his latest book’s title: Is a River Alive? Joined by a changing cast of fascinating characters, he roams three rivers, looking for answers. Macfarlane will give a free public lecture at Rhodes College in Memphis on October 1.
The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music sets the stories of Lead Belly, Johnny Cash, and Tupac Shakur free from the myths that surround them. Author Colin Asher will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
Octopus is popular in cuisines around the world, creating a level of demand that naturally inspires interest in farming it — but that’s easier said than done, as Richard Schweid explains in Life on the Octopus Farm. Schweid will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
Emilee Hackney’s debut All That’s Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir traces her journey from Virginia’s coal country to Harvard, intertwining her own story with those of people and places often overlooked by the powerful. Hackney will appear at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 17-18.
