In October 2017, former U.S. poet laureate Charles Wright, a Tennessee native who grew up in Kingsport, paid a visit to East Tennessee State University for an interview and public reading. His lively conversation with fellow poet Jesse Graves was recorded and transcribed, and Chapter 16 is publishing it for the first time in honor of Wright’s 90th birthday.
The Wounds Are the Witness by Yolanda Pierce, dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, serves as devotional reading, a summons to self-care, and encouragement for everyday action and outspokenness. Dr. Pierce will appear at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 18-19.
With the Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life, Jonathan Eig has written the definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr. for this generation. Eig will discuss King: A Life at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 18-19.
Brian Kwoba’s Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism examines the life and legacy of an activist, intellectual, and journalist who challenged the status quo on race, politics, capitalism, and romantic relationships.
In How College Presidents Succeed, Michael Nelson extracts wisdom from three generations of a family known as “Virginia’s academic dynasty.”
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: When he died in January 2022, historian John Rice Irwin was described as the “guardian of Appalachia’s past.” In a 2008 interview, he talked with poet Jesse Graves about his family and his life’s work.
