Nonfiction

September 9, 2014 Tavis Smiley, host of eponymous talk shows on both PBS and public radio, has collaborated with biographer David Ritz to create a human, novelistic portrait of Martin Luther King in his final year: Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year. Prior to his appearance at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on September 19, Smiley spoke with Chapter 16 about King’s “darkest hours,” the way the civil-rights leader influenced Smiley’s own life, and what he thinks King would make of the present American landscape.

September 4, 2012 Do people today have more anxiety or just more to be anxious about? Recognizing that anxiety disorders are being diagnosed at a rapidly growing rate, Scott Stossel, editor of The Atlantic, asks this question and more in his new book, My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind. Stossel will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

September 2, 2014 Bestselling nonfiction author Karen Abbott (the “pioneer of sizzle history,” according to USA Today) has made a career of writing about unconventional women. Abbott will discuss her new book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War , at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 10, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. and again at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.

August 29, 2014 Legendary professional wrestler Andre the Giant was so large, even as a pre-teen, that the school bus refused to carry him to his studies. In Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, Box Brown, an Ignatz award-winning comic artist, has brought the life of one of the world’s most recognizable celebrities to a graphic format. Brown will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.

August 20, 2014 Since bursting onto the national scene in 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis has lived a life as wild as his music. Drawing from extensive interviews with Lewis, author Rick Bragg tells an epic Southern tale of triumph and tragedy in Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story. Rick Bragg will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.