Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

Keith Wood paints a portrait of a Memphis baseball team and the Black community that loved it

Keith Wood, a leading scholar of sports in Memphis, reconstructs the history of the Memphis Red Sox, a longstanding team in the Negro Leagues and a pillar of the city’s Black community.

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Big Top Labor

Andrea Ringer rewrites the history of the circus from the workers’ perspective

From trapeze artists to roustabouts to elephants, the golden age of the American circus depended on its workers. Andrea Ringer’s Circus World tells their story.

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Hope Is the Thing

Poet Danita Dodson reflects on the loss of her father

Between Gone and Everlasting, Danita Dodson’s most recent poetry collection, explores the many facets of grief after the loss of a parent. Dodson will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on October 10.

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He Would’ve Said Goodbye

A madcap murder investigation helps a family cope with a loved one’s death in Fowl Play

“It’s kinda hard to hunt for a murderer,” declares young Chloe Alvarez, “when you don’t want to remember that a person is dead.” Chloe is the narrator and main character of Nashville writer Kristin O’Donnell Tubb’s latest middle-grade novel, Fowl Play, and she is desperate to know what really happened to her Uncle Will. Fowl Play is scheduled for release on July 30, and a launch event will be held at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere on August 2.

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Explosive Revelations

Betsy Phillips’ Dynamite Nashville is a raucous, engrossing investigation of white supremacist violence

In Dynamite Nashville, Betsy Phillips plunges into the world of white supremacist violence in Nashville during the civil rights era. Phillips will discuss the book at the Tennessee State Museum on July 13.

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Memphis Noir

Ace Atkins creates an unforgettable detective and an intimate portrait of Memphis in Don’t Let the Devil Ride

Ace Atkins, known for his Quinn Colson novels, has crafted a classic detective tale in Don’t Let the Devil Ride, an international thriller solidly anchored in Memphis. Atkins will appear at Novel in Memphis on June 26 and in an online discussion with Chapter 16’s Michael Ray Taylor on July 16.

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