The stories in Unbroken Circle highlight a range of contemporary Southern voices
With Unbroken Circle: Stories of Cultural Diversity in the South, editors Julia Watts and Larry Smith set out to collect essays and stories that reflect a more nuanced picture of Southern experience. Watts, along with several of the anthology’s contributing writers, will discuss Unbroken Circle at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville November 12 at 2 p.m.
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A Chapter 16 writer takes Elizabeth Gilbert’s new writing guide, Big Magic, out for a spin
In her guide to creativity, Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert’s positivity is infectious not just because she’s funny, irreverent, and frank about her foibles, but because steely discipline and determination have been the mainstays of her creative life. The 2017 Nashville Public Library Literary Award honoree, Gilbert will give a free public lecture at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on November 11 at 10 a.m.
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Nashville’s Jamie Blaine returns with new adventures in late-night psychiatric counseling
“Here’s the score,” writes Nashville author Jamie Blaine in his new memoir, Mercy Never Sleeps. “My social circle consists of junkies and schizophrenics, inmates, suicidal housewives, cops and ER docs, and convenience store clerks on graveyard shift. Am I lost? Or found?”
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Ayanna Thompson returns to Memphis to discuss Shakespeare and race
Shakespeare’s “Scottish play” has played an important role in America’s cultural confrontation with racial issues, according to Weyward Macbeth, a collection of essays that survey the play’s complex intersection with the color line. Ayanna Thompson, co-editor of the book, will speak on “Shakespeare, Race, and Performance: What We Still Don’t Know” in Hardie Auditorium at Rhodes College in Memphis on November 2 at 7 p.m.
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The SouthWord Literary Feast will convene in Chattanooga November 3-4
SouthWord Literary Feast, a biennial book festival and reunion of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, will feature forty celebrated Southern authors, including Wendell Berry, Charles Frazier, Jill McCorkle, and Ron Rash. Seating is available for talks, readings, panel discussions, book signings, and meals November 3 and 4.
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Novelist Tova Mirvis writes about her decision to abandon Orthodox Judaism in The Book of Separation
As an Orthodox Jew, Tova Mirvis was taught from childhood that being a good wife and mother was her sacred duty, and her whole existence was shaped and bound by religious law. In her new memoir, The Book of Separation, she recalls her decision to leave her marriage and her faith community. Mirvis will appear at the Memphis Jewish Community Center on November 2 at 7 p.m.
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