Fueled by empathy, precision, and wit, Lee Smith’s fiction opens up the interior worlds of characters whose depths we might least expect, given the everyday circumstances of their Southern lives. Smith spoke with Chapter 16 about her lifelong pursuit of stories that thrive on healthy doses of surprise, conflict, and mischief.
This essay originally appeared in Touchstone, a publication of Humanities Tennessee, in 1986.
In Delta Epiphany, Ellen B. Meacham chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s 1967 visit to the Mississippi Delta, which spurred his efforts to eradicate hunger in America. Meacham will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 27.
Graham Hoppe’s Gone Dollywood explores the theme-park juggernaut, the genius behind Dolly Parton’s stardom, and the effect of Pigeon Forge’s culture on Appalachian identity.
The late Nashville Scene film critic and editor Jim Ridley wrote about movies with dazzling insight, humor, and honesty. In People Only Die of Love in Movies editor Steve Haruch has collected some of the best of Ridley’s work.
Jared A. Brock’s The Road to Dawn traces the harrowing story of Josiah Henson’s journey from slavery to world-wide fame as “the real Uncle Tom.” Brock will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on June 5.
