Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Man as a Writer

Gordon Van Ness discusses the complex legacy of poet James Dickey

In James Dickey: A Literary Life, Gordon Van Ness, a long-time scholar of the Vanderbilt-educated poet and novelist, has written a comprehensive biography of a complex man and his place in American letters.

Read more

The Glorious Pastime: Anjali Enjeti

Anjali Enjeti on the books that inspire her

The Parted Earth, Enjeti’s debut novel, tells a story shaped by the sectarian violence of India’s 1947 partition, following the legacy of that trauma from the streets of New Delhi to 21st-century Atlanta. To mark the book’s paperback release this month, Chapter 16 asked Enjeti to share some of her favorite books and authors via our Glorious Pastime questionnaire.

Read more

The Two Souths

Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker explain how Southern politics shaped the modern United States

In The Southernization of America: A Story of Democracy in the Balance, Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker see two traditions in the modern political history of the South, with clashing implications for the state of American democracy.

Read more

Becoming the Characters

June Hall McCash discusses her novel The Truth Keepers

The Truth Keepers, the new novel by June Hall McCash, explores the true history of the du Bignon family in coastal Georgia during the 19th century. The story unfolds from the perspectives of his wife and mistress as each woman reckons with her secret past.

Read more

The Glorious Pastime: Mary Laura Philpott

Mary Laura Philpott loves sad books … and happy ones

Mary Laura Philpott’s forthcoming book, Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives, due in April, has been named among the most anticipated releases of 2022, and Parnassus Books will host a launch party for Bomb Shelter at the Hilton Green Hills in Nashville on April 10. Today, Philpott answers our Glorious Pastime questionnaire. 

Read more

The Promise of a Person

Kathryn Williams spins the timeless story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia into a YA mystery

In The Storyteller, the new YA novel by Kathryn Williams, 17-year-old Jess pretends to be someone she’s not when she’s around her boyfriend and his friends. But when she uncovers new evidence regarding the mysterious fate of the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, Jess is forced to delve deeper into the meaning of identity — and the cost of deception.

Read more
TAKE THE SHORT READER SURVEY! CHAPTER 16 SURVEYOR SURVEYING