October 10, 2014 The Southern Festival of Books is big, varied, and one of the most inclusive cultural events around. Chapter 16’s Maria Browning considers the special pleasure of the festival’s collective spirit. The twenty-sixth annual Southern Festival of Books will take place in Nashville October 10-12, 2014, at Legislative Plaza and the Nashville Public Library. All festival events are free and open to the public.
October 7, 2014 In Under Magnolia, Frances Mayes recalls her childhood in South Georgia, trying to survive in the overwrought atmosphere created by her high-strung, alcoholic parents. It is a moving account of the coming-of-age of a young woman destined to be a poet, teacher, and bestselling memoirist. Mayes will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.
October 3, 2014 On January 25, 1892, on a busy Memphis sidewalk, Alice Mitchell slit the throat of Freda Ward, a crime that made national headlines because Alice’s motive—jealousy in a homosexual relationship—was inconceivable to a nineteenth-century audience. Alexis Coe’s new book about the case, Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis, is a window into how gender, class, and race shaped society of that day. Coe will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on October 9, 2014, and again at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12.
September 29, 2014 In A Field Guide to Happiness: What I Learned in Bhutan about Living, Loving, and Waking Up, Linda Leaming combines fascinating descriptions of a mystical country with funny, touching, and sometimes harrowing stories about her life there. It’s enough to make even the most travel-phobic reader dream about buying a plane ticket for this hard-to-reach land. Leaming will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 1, 2014, and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.
September 25, 2014 In his memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, New York Times op-ed columnist Charles M. Blow tells the story of a small-town Southern childhood marked by poverty and sexual abuse. Blow will speak at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014. All festival events are free and open to the public.
September 22, 2014 New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, have followed their worldwide bestseller, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women, with a sequel of sorts. A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity looks at innovative ways to make a difference in the world. Prior to his appearance at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014, Kristof sat down with Chapter 16 to discuss poverty, opportunity, and what everyday donors can do to change another person’s life.
