Billy Collins, former poet laureate, talks with Chapter 16 about why we’re all born for poetry—and how school kills it for kids
Billy Collins is a frequent guest on National Public Radio shows like A Prairie Home Companion and Fresh Air, and his readings pack even halls that seat two thousand people or more. Collins will read from his new collection, The Rain in Portugal, at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music on October 26 at 6:15 p.m.
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Former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright will speak at ETSU
In advance of his return to Tennessee, Chapter 16 surveys the life and work of Charles Wright, whose poems are both accessible and deeply philosophical. Wright, a native of Pickwick Dam, will do two public events at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City on October 25.
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Rodney Jones’s novel in verse, Village Prodigies, roves the lives of six childhood friends
Rodney Jones’s powerful novel in verse picks through the memories of six young men from a small Southern town. Jones will discuss Village Prodigies at the 2017 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 13-15.
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Book Excerpt: Vantablack
Ciona Rouse lives in Nashville, where she curates many poetry experiences. She will read from her new chapbook, Vantablack (Third Man Books, 2017) at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 13-15.
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Book Excerpt: Every Room in the Body
Kerri French is the author of Every Room in the Body, winner of the 2016 Moon City Poetry Award, and Instruments of Summer, a chapbook of poems about the life of Amy Winehouse. She will appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville October 13-15.
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The dilemmas of modern life illuminate Erica Wright’s collection, All the Bayou Stories End with Drowned
The poems in Erica Wright’s new collection, All the Bayou Stories End with Drowned, exist in a glittering space between the everyday and the ineffable. Wright will discuss the book at the Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville on August 27 at 2 p.m.
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