Q & A
When Outlaws Ruled the West End
Michael Streissguth explores the rise of country music’s outlaw movement
by Paul McCoy
June 17, 2013 In his new book Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville, Michael Streissguth provides an in-depth look at the rise of the outlaw movement, how it changed Nashville, and the formidable talents who led the way. Streissguth will discuss Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Published Monday, 17 June 2013
De-Fictionalizing the South
Twenty-five years after the publication of his memoir about Southern politics, journalist James D. Squires talks with Chapter 16 about The Secrets of the Hopewell Box
by John Egerton
June 6, 2013 When it first appeared in 1986, The Secrets of the Hopewell Box by James D. Squires was a Tennessee sensation, dealing with the seldom-exposed underbelly of ward politics in a Southern city on the cusp of social change. The book got good regional and national exposure for a couple of years, but inexplicably the publisher let it go out of print. Now, Vanderbilt University Press has reissued it in paperback, giving readers a second chance to be entertained by and instructed about a period of local history that had national implications in politics, civil rights, reapportionment, and the sensational federal trial of labor boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Published Thursday, 6 June 2013
Book Tours on Ice
David Sedaris has a very particular reason for looking forward to his reading in Nashville
by Stephen Usery
May 30, 2013 Humorist David Sedaris is currently on an author tour for his new book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. He spoke with Chapter 16 by phone about his upcoming appearance at Parnassus Books in Nashville, the difference between his lecture and bookstore tours, and the true meaning of Christmas. [This interview is also available as a podcast.] Sedaris will discuss and sign copies of Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 31, 2013, at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public but requires book purchase through the Parnassus website. Click here for details.
Published Thursday, 30 May 2013
Secret Pain and Passion
Jennie Fields talks about novelist Edith Wharton’s turbulent life
by Faye Jones
May 29, 2013 Edith Wharton’s novels captured the depths and complexities of the human soul, but her readers in the early twentieth century could not have known that Wharton’s own life held its share of emotional drama. In The Age of Desire, Nashville novelist Jennie Fields tells the story of Edith Wharton’s passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with journalist Morton Fullerton. Prior to her reading at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 6:30 p.m. on June 3, Fields answered questions about the novel from Chapter 16.
Published Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Finding Her Literary Voice in the South
Bestselling novelist Cathie Pelletier reflects on her move from Maine to Tennessee
by John Egerton
May 28, 2013 Cathie Pelletier, a native of Maine, fell in love with Tennessee when she and a friend hitch-hiked down South over thirty years ago. After moving to Nashville in 1976, Pelletier found inspiration in almost everything, from the bars frequented by songwriters to the smell of springtime wisteria. Today, she talks about her time in Tennessee and the way it has shaped her writing. Pelletier will discuss her newest novel, The One-Way Bridge, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 5 at 6:30 p.m. and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on June 6 at 6 p.m.
Published Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Can’t Stop the Signal
Craig Havighurst's Air Castle of the South is the biography of an extraordinary radio station
by Paul McCoy
May 21, 2013 Spin through your AM dial past the static, past the end-timer rants and the political talk, and eventually you’ll tune into 650AM, the home of WSM Radio. You are listening to a signal that’s been going strong for the better part of a century, a signal that helped create Nashville’s very identity and broadcasts the culture of country music to the entire world. In Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City, Craig Havighurst follows an extraordinary group of artists, engineers, and managers as they created a broadcasting legend—and with it an entire industry—from the ground up. Havighurst will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 23, 2013, at 6:30 p.m.
Published Tuesday, 21 May 2013
The Way He Works
David Macaulay talks with Chapter 16 about a career built on curiosity
by Susannah Felts
May 14, 2013 Twenty-five years ago and long B.G. (before Google), illustrator and writer David Macaulay published his groundbreaking book, The Way Things Work, now a classic of educational children’s literature. In 2008, he published a follow-up of sorts, The Way We Work, which applied his innovative and meticulous show-and-tell approach to the human body. Truly an artist for all ages, Macaulay has received both the Caldecott Medal and a MacArthur genius grant. On May 18 at 2 p.m., he’ll deliver the commencement address to the 2013 graduating class of Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville. The event, which will be held at the Downtown Presbyterian Church, is free and open to the public.
Published Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Cutting Remembrances
Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds, discusses the delicate art of writing about war
by Ed Tarkington
May 10, 2013 A National Book Award Finalist and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction, The Yellow Birds by Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers has been hailed by a host of literary luminaries as an instant classic. Written in lyrical prose that veers between terse understatement and vivid figurative language, The Yellow Birds is a rich literary experience as well as a harrowing narrative about the effects of war on both soldiers and families. Powers will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 21 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Wine with the Author series. The event is free and open to the public.
Published Monday, 13 May 2013
Resisting the Noise
Jess Walter talks about his problem with Al Gore, the difficulty of signing a human breast, how Shakespeare would fare in Hollywood, and why it took fifteen years to write his newest novel, Beautiful Ruins
by Margaret Renkl
May 1, 2013 Beautiful Ruins is a showcase for Jess Walter’s outrageous literary gifts in virtually every genre and style, so it’s no surprise that critics have been outdoing each other with superlatives like “a literary miracle” (NPR), a “high-wire feat of bravura storytelling” (The New York Times Book Review), and “a brilliant, madcap meditation on fate” (Kirkus Reviews). “Why mince words?” wrote Richard Russo: “Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” Walter recently spoke with Chapter 16 prior to his forthcoming event at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 8 at 6:30 p.m.
Published Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Surviving the Unsurvivable
Augusten Burroughs talks with Chapter 16 about his new survival guide for all manner of tragedies
by Amaryllis Lyle
April 29, 2013 Augusten Burroughs, author of several bestselling memoirs, including Running with Scissors, has shifted from memoir to self-help with his newest release, This is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike. Covering topics from dating to mental illness to elevator-riding, This is How has an answer for it all. On May 7 at 6:15 p.m., Burroughs will appear at the Nashville Public Library as a part of the Salon@615 series. The event is free and open to the public.
Published Tuesday, 30 April 2013
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