‘How ‘Bout Dem Boats?’
In The Memphis Showboats, Keith Wood explains the glorious and depressing history of a franchise in the short-lived United States Football League. Along the way, he reveals the struggle in Memphis to achieve national respect.
Q&A
A Love Letter to Nashville
In her new thriller, Indie Darling, Nashville author Lauren Nossett plumbs a dark side of Music City. Told from the perspective of a badass female private detective investigating the disappearance of a popular singer-songwriter, the story is rife with plot twists, parallel mysteries, and Dolly Parton songs. Nossett will appear at a book launch party at The Sun Room in Nashville on July 27 and at the 2026 Southern Festival of Books on October 17-18.
The Legacy of an American Griot
In Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World, Lucas L. Johnson II sketches the history of Alex Haley’s Roots and its TV adaptation, surveying their impact through commentary from scholars, genealogists, artists, and ordinary people from different walks of life. Johnson will sign and discuss the book at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater in Nashville on June 14.
Explosive Revelations
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Dynamite Nashville, Betsy Phillips plunges into the world of white supremacist violence in Nashville during the civil rights era.
Quintessential Observer
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In 2022, Brandon Taylor spoke with Chapter 16 about his Southern roots, his Baptist upbringing, how his brief career as a scientist has influenced his writing, and why he has been increasingly drawn to analog technologies in our digitally obsessed world.
A Celebration of Everything Alive and Whole
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Chapter 16 talks with Ada Limón, a poet whose work is grounded in the physical world, delighting in nature and urging readers toward curiosity and wonder.
