July 21, 2011 Fresh from sold-out shows in New York City and an unprecedented award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, Minton Sparks continues to pursue a literary art form she invented from scratch. Now this genre-defying performance poet, songwriter, and novelist—whose fans and collaborators include Dorothy Allison, Marshall Chapman, and John Prine—is back home in Nashville, but already she’s got her eye on Broadway.
July 19, 2011 Memphis native Richard Tillinghast has been traveling the globe and writing critically acclaimed poetry for more than four decades. Recently returned to the United States after several years in Ireland, Tillinghast answered questions from Chapter 16 about his various roles as poet, translator, critic, and citizen of the world. Tillinghast will give a reading on September 27 at the University of Memphis, followed by an interview on September 28. He will also appear at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 14-16.
Poet Diann Blakely, a graduate of both the University of the South and Vanderbilt University, begins this week on a great note: The Chronicle of Higher Education has just featured her poem “Dead Shrimp Blues” at its Arts & Academe blog. The poem is part of her collection-in-progress, Rain in Our Door, a series of “duets” with blues artist Robert Johnson.
July 13, 2011 Marilyn Kallet, Lindsay Young Professor of English at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, has always been interested in Surrealism, but translating Benjamin Péret’s The Big Game has proven the most challenging—and most rewarding—of her forays. Kallet will read from the book on July 17 at 3 p.m. at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville. Also reading will be poets Jeff Daniel Marion and Donna Doyle.
June 27, 2011 Puerto Rico’s first murder. The Battle of Nashville. A dress blooming in the ocean. These are the images Nashville poet Blas Falconer offers listeners during a 2008 reading at the Art Institute of Chicago. In the program Falconer reads from his latest book, A Question of Gravity and Light (Arizona University Press, 2007).
June 16, 2011 Linda Parsons Marion is an editor at the University of Tennessee and the author of three poetry collections: Home Fires, Mother Land, and Bound. Marion’s work has appeared in journals such as The Georgia Review, Iowa Review, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, Nimrod, and Connecticut Review, as well as in many anthologies. She lives in Knoxville with her husband, poet Jeff Daniel Marion. Linda Parsons Marion will read from Bound at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on June 19 at 3 p.m.
