October 10, 2013 In Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan recounts her battle against a rare neurological disorder that threatened her life and her very identity. Having no memory of this period, Cahalan used her skills as a journalist to recreate the effects the disease had on her and her loved ones.
October 9, 2013 Nonfiction author Bill Bryson is legendary for his ability to mine a readable story from a vast subject. In a twist, Bryson’s new book, One Summer: America, 1927, takes a deceptively narrow focus, describing events that occurred over a five-month period in Jazz Age America—but what a summer 1927 proved to be. Bryson will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.
October 1, 2013 In Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, National Book Award winner Andrew Solomon explores the depths of love as he researches the connection between parents and exceptional children. Today he talks with Chapter 16 about his own journey to parenthood and “the epic narratives of resilience” that shaped his book. Andrew Solomon will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013.
September 25, 2013 In his debut memoir, A Long Day at the End of the World: A Story of Desecration and Revelation in the Deep South, Brent Hendricks writes about the “largest mass desecration in modern American history” and of learning that his own father’s corpse lay among hundreds of bodies discarded outside at Georgia’s Tri-State Crematory. Hendricks will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.
September 24, 2013 Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan is a surprisingly poignant work that manages to borrow from the Appalachian storytelling tradition as it confronts, even dismisses, its tropes and trappings. On the one hand, it’s an homage to the people McClanahan has known and loved; on the other, it’s a commentary on the fictive quality of all such biographical projects. McClanahan will discuss Crapalachia at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.
September 19, 2013 Slash Coleman, an award-winning performer and storyteller, is best known for his one-man Off-Broadway show and PBS special, The Neon Man and Me. In his new memoir, The Bohemian Love Diaries, Coleman shares his story of growing up in the South in the 1970s and 80s, surrounded by a family of off-beat artists whom the young writer finds alternately inspiring and confounding. Slash Coleman will be appearing at the 25th anniversary of the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.
