Nonfiction | Chapter 16

The Thing’s the Plays

Shakespeare’s First Folio comes to Nashville, signifying everything

By Steve Haruch | November 7, 2016

first-folio “First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare,” a new exhibit at the Nashville Parthenon, brings a four-centuries-old copy of the Bard’s first collection to Tennessee, and it is not to be missed. The rare book—on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death—will be on display from November 10, 2016, to January 8, 2017

On Freedom and Love and Changing the World

Sarah Bakewell breathes new life into the great existential thinkers

By Aram Goudsouzian | November 3, 2016

bakewell_attheexistentialistcafe_final Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus—in her enchanting group biography, At the Existentialist Café, Sarah Bakewell shines a light on these great existential writers and the world they made. Bakewell will discuss the book on November 9 at Rhodes College in Memphis.

An Appetite for Imaginative Living

Appalachian writer Wilma Dykeman explores her mountain childhood in a newly-recovered memoir

By Emily Choate | November 1, 2016

Found after Wilma Dykeman’s death in 2006, Family of Earth details the writer and civil-rights activist’s childhood in the mountains around Asheville, North Carolina. This poignant memoir extends the reach of Dykeman’s renowned writing about southern Appalachian places and people.

Telling the Whole Story

In work and life, Dorothy Allison defies narrow categories

By Maria Browning | October 24, 2016

bastardoutofcarolina Whether she’s writing about her tough, spirited characters or her own difficult life, Dorothy Allison seems determined to defy all narrow categories, seeking instead to express the full complexity of human experience. Allison, who serves as the 2016 Acuff Chair at the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts at Austin Peay State University, will speak on October 27 at 8 p.m. in Clement Auditorium on the APSU campus. The event is free and open to the public.

How Rock-n-Roll Became White

Jack Hamilton explores the way race distorted the iconic music of the 1960s

By Aram Goudsouzian | October 20, 2016

hamilton_just-around-midnight In Just Around Midnight, Jack Hamilton describes how great artists such as Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, and the Rolling Stones crossed the race line in their music, even as the culture was separating “rock” and “soul” into separate genres. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis will host a conversation and book signing with Hamilton on October 27 at 7 p.m.

Beyond “Good Girls”

In a new anthology, South Asian American daughters construct their own identities

By Lee Conell | October 19, 2016

goodgirls_final_highres_sm Pushing past the pressure to be perfect daughters, the writers in Good Girls Marry Doctors provide a multifaceted look at women who are moving beyond and even reconstructing cultural and familial expectations. Editor Piyali Bhattacharya will discuss Good Girls Marry Doctors at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher