Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Marching and Running for Freedom

Alice Faye Duncan celebrates two courageous Black women in new picture-book biographies

Alice Faye Duncan brings young readers two new picture-book biographies: Coretta’s Journey, a biography of Coretta Scott King, and Traveling Shoes, which tells the story of U.S. Olympian and long jump champion Willye White. Duncan will discuss the books at Novel in Memphis on November 11.  

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How to Live and at What Cost

Poet Anders Carlson-Wee on his new collection, Disease of Kings

Anders Carlson-Wee’s second poetry collection, Disease of Kings, explores a story of friendship, loneliness, and survival. Carlson-Wee will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Praise Song and Elegy

Margaret Renkl on beauty, climate change, and her literary devotional, The Comfort of Crows

Essayist and New York Times columnist Margaret Renkl brings her keen eye and tender observations to her Nashville backyard in The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year. Renkl will appear in Nashville at David Lusk Gallery on October 14, the 2023 Southern Festival of Books on October 21-22, and Harpeth Hall School on October 24; at The Book & Cover in Chattanooga on November 6; St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Knoxville on November 13; and Novel in Memphis on December 4.  

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A Revolution on the Airwaves

Night Train to Nashville tells the story of two men behind WLAC’s groundbreaking R&B broadcasts

Paula Blackman’s Night Train to Nashville fuses family history with music history to chronicle a radio revolution in the Jim Crow South. Blackman will appear at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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What is “the South”?

Fitzhugh Brundage reflects on an ambitious undertaking: A New History of the American South

A New History of the American South collects interpretations of Southern history into a coherent, fascinating narrative. Its editor, Fitzhugh Brundage, will discuss the book at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 21-22.

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Learning from the Lady Lovers

Historian Cookie Woolner unearths communities of Black queer women in the 1920s and ‘30s

In The Famous Lady Lovers, Cookie Woolner excavates the communities built by Black queer women in the interwar era. Woolner will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on September 12.

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