November 8, 2011 John McPhee is known for taking obscure topics and making them fascinating. As McPhee heads to Tennessee this week to accept the eighth annual Nashville Public Library Literary Award, Chapter 16’s Michael Ray Taylor considers the legendary author’s influence on the craft of creative nonfiction. McPhee will give a free public reading at the Nashville Public Library on November 12 at 10 a.m.
November 3, 2011 In Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible, Robert Alter explores the various ways the King James Version and its assimilation into American speech have shaped the literary styles of Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, Ernest Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and Marilynne Robinson. Prior to his appearances on November 10 at the University of Memphis and November 11 at the 1611 Symposium at Rhodes College in Memphis, Alter answered questions from Chapter 16 about the way “a set of texts rendered in English four hundred years ago can still fire the imagination of writers who differ extremely from each other and from the Bible.”
November 3, 2011 In much of his work—which spans two collections of poetry, essays, a play, collaborations with other artists and writers, and two memoirs—Nick Flynn has grappled with a tragic family history, and he bears his own deep scars, too: years of drug and alcohol use, a string of damaged relationships with women. But out of this well of grief, Flynn has pulled a well-received body of literature. His newest memoir, The Ticking is the Bomb, again mines this difficult past to critical acclaim. It is a survivor’s tale—the voice of a troubled mind still struggling to make sense of the wreckage, still doubtful of its own stability. Flynn will read from his work at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on November 10 at 7 p.m. in Furman Hall, Room 114. The event is free and open to the public.
November 2, 2011 NPR says John Jeremiah Sullivan is “the best magazine writer around.” Time magazine names him “the New Tom Wolfe.” The New York Times Book Review calls Sullivan’s new collection, Pulphead, “the sort of essay-world you just want to dwell inside.” Sullivan will read from and sign copies of Pulphead at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on November 5 at 1 p.m. He will also read in Nashville on November 19 at 1 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series. Both events are free and open to the public.
November 1, 2011 Brad Paisley is often regarded by critics and tastemakers as a bridge between old-style country music and new. His songs—he writes or co-writes many of them himself—offer sharp, catchy melodies that are also well-crafted, accessible lyrics that are also artful. And when you listen to any of his cuts, the guitar parts always stand out. Today Chapter 16 talks with Paisley about his new memoir, Diary of a Player, the story behind the songwriter.
November 1, 2011 I am standing on a stage. In front of me is a sea of people, all very close together, and most of them are staring somewhat hopefully in my general direction. Some are wearing T-shirts and jeans, miniskirts, and tank tops, ball caps, cowboy hats, and camouflage. And other than the people facing the wrong way wearing the yellow vests labeled SECURITY and a few facing the wrong way who are too drunk to know better, this mob is expecting something from me.
