Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

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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Privilege, Pageantry, and PR

Carrie Tipton traces the complex origins of college fight songs

In From Dixie to Rocky Top, musicologist Carrie Tipton reveals the surprisingly complex history behind SEC football fight songs. Tipton will discuss the book with former sportscaster Rudy Kalis at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville on September 9.

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Rights and Revolutions

Historian Timothy S. Huebner discusses how a “culture of constitutionalism” shaped the Civil War era

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: In Liberty and Union, Rhodes College professor Timothy S. Huebner brings together an enormous body of scholarship on the secession crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction, compelling us to reconsider what we think we know about the era.

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Carrying the Torch

Lee Smith on lunch with Dolly, the transformative power of words, and the Southern Festival of Books

Chapter 16 talks with master storyteller Lee Smith about her writing process and her fond memories of the annual Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. Smith will appear at this year’s festival on October 21-22.

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Bringing up the Dead

Lorrie Moore discusses death, humor, and her sensational new novel

I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home braids the diary of a 19th-century spinster with a modern-day road trip story. With her signature dry humor and mastery of metaphor, Lorrie Moore leaves bodies in her wake.

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