A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

The Glorious Pastime: Chanelle Benz

A Q&A with Memphis writer Chanelle Benz launches a new feature at Chapter 16: “The Glorious Pastime,” an occasional series devoted to the reading lives of prominent Tennesseans. Benz, a novelist and short story writer, discusses her wide-ranging reading list and the book she hopes to read … someday. 

The Glorious Pastime: Chanelle Benz

Between Black and White

In One Minute Out, thriller writer Mark Greaney confronts the real horror of modern-day sex slavery.

Between Black and White

Lois Lowry Broadens Her Horizons

In On the Horizon, acclaimed children’s author Lois Lowry explores the history of World War II through the stories of those who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima. Chapter 16 talked with Lowry about writing in verse for the first time, what she thought of the film adaptation of The Giver, what surprises her about children’s literature after decades in the field, and more.

Lois Lowry Broadens Her Horizons

Death Is the Mother of Beauty

Nashville poet Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum’s second collection, Visiting Hours, is an invitation to join him in communing with and grieving for the spirit of his longtime friend Mary Interlandi, who took her life in 2003. It is at once sweeping and focused, grand and intimate.

Death Is the Mother of Beauty

Writing About the Tough Stuff

Chattanooga author J. Kasper Kramer talks with Chapter 16 about her debut novel for middle grade readers, The Story That Cannot Be Told, which portrays one brave girl’s fight against injustice during the months leading up to the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

Writing About the Tough Stuff

Disappointed Idealist

In the preface to Child of Light, his biography of novelist Robert Stone, Madison Smartt Bell describes Stone as a man who “confronted the world with the bright, acidic irony of an extraordinarily perceptive, bitterly disappointed idealist.” It’s a vivid and precise summary of the complex artist who emerges in this comprehensive book. 

Disappointed Idealist

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