Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

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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A Queerness Full of Appalachian Grit and Spirit

Zane McNeill discusses Y’all Means All, an anthology of emerging queer voices

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In the anthology Y’all Means All: The Emerging Voices Queering Appalachia, editor Z. Zane McNeill curates a collection “full of a very specific Appalachian grit and spirit.” 

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River Gods

Boyce Upholt explores the long history of the Mississippi River

In The Great River, Boyce Upholt chronicles the long history of how the U.S. government has sought to control and shape the Mississippi River, exploring its social and environmental impacts. Upholt will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on June 25.

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Scars on Scars

With Shae, Mesha Maren delivers a poignant novel about love and addiction in rural Appalachia

Mesha Maren’s Shae is both a powerful queer coming-of-age novel and a meditation on the challenges of teen parenthood and the horrors of addiction. Maren will discuss Shae at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on May 30.

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A Southern Story

Andrew Ross reconstructs the history of one Shelby County plantation from multiple perspectives

In The Realms of Oblivion, Andrew Ross tells the history of the 19th-century South through the experience of the Davies family and the Black people who worked their land in both slavery and freedom.

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A Connection to the Earth

Brooks Lamb works to preserve the family farm

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: Family farming is hard work, acknowledges Brooks Lamb in Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place. In this 2023 Chapter 16 interview, he says it’s also a rewarding lifestyle worth saving, for the sake of the environment and ourselves. Lamb will discuss Love for the Land at Patagonia Nashville on May 16.

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