Q&A

Memphis author and bookstore owner Corey Mesler talks to Chapter 16 about his latest novel and the challenges of running a small business during the pandemic.

Heather Truett’s debut YA novel, Kiss and Repeat, brings to life the author’s commitment to more neurodivergent voices in publishing. Currently an M.F.A. candidate in creative writing at the University of Memphis, Truett is launching her career with a charming, relatable story centered around Stephen, a teen with Tourette’s syndrome who discovers that his tics disappear when he is kissing someone. Truett will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Novel in Memphis on May 25.

In A Place Like Mississippi, W. Ralph Eubanks marries searching prose with stunning photographs. While touring the state, he introduces us to its writers and their intertwined legacies.

Hannah Carmona discusses her new picture book, Anita and the Dragons, illustrated by Anna Cunha, with Chapter 16.

Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin is a researcher, cultural worker, and lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she earned a Ph.D. in sociology. As co-host of the Black in Appalachia podcast and the founder of The Bottom, a non-profit community space in Knoxville, she’s working to reclaim space for Black voices and communities.

In Rachel Louise Martin’s Hot, Hot Chicken, the story of a beloved Nashville dish is inextricable from the history of redlining and misguided urban renewal initiatives that undermined the city’s Black communities for generations. Martin will appear at a virtual event hosted by The Bookshop in Nashville on April 5.