Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Obsessed with Understanding

Poet Jenny Qi on what shapes her work

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: The child of Chinese immigrants, Jenny Qi entered Vanderbilt at 16, lost her mother while she was still an undergraduate, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical science while pouring her grief into poetry. Her award-winning debut collection, Focal Point, explores sorrow, death, and what we owe to each other.

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The Irreplaceable Gift

A lyrical, atmospheric new picture book celebrates author and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman

In her new picture book, Of Words and Water, Shannon Hitchcock tells the story of underappreciated Appalachian author and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman.

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Arcs of Hope and Tragedy

Frye Gaillard delivers a sprawling, panoramic history of the 1960s

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Frye Gaillard’s A Hard Rain pulls the reader into the 1960s, not just to witness its momentous events, but to feel its idealism and disenchantment. First published in 2018, A Hard Rain has recently been released in paperback and as an audiobook.

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A Place for Us

SunAh M Laybourn on her new book exploring Korean adoptee identity

SunAh M Laybourn’s Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants provides both a glimpse into a complicated identity and a survey of the historical context surrounding it.

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Uncertainty and Possibility

Jessica Young’s Two Homes, One Heart takes on kids’ experience of divorce

Jessica Young’s latest picture book, Two Homes, One Heart, explores through a child’s eyes the uncertainty and possibility experienced when a family separates. Young will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 30.

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Taking Real Action

Andrew Maraniss on his new series of biographies for young readers

In his books Strong Inside, Singled Out, and Inaugural Ballers, Andrew Maraniss explored the intersection of sports, identity, and social justice. Now he’s bringing those themes to Beyond the Game: Athletes Change the World, a new series of biographies for young readers. Maraniss will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 5.

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