Q & A

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

Off the Grid

Isabel Allende discusses her new novel, Maya’s Notebook, and explains her affection for vagabonds and the terrors of modern parenting

by Sean Kinch

April 29, 2013 Isabel Allende’s new novel, Maya’s Notebook, charts a young woman’s downward spiral into addiction and crime, as well as her path toward healing and redemption. Maya tells the story in her own words, providing an intimate vantage on the trauma that leads to the desire for self-destruction and the love required to overcome it. Allende spoke with Chapter 16 prior to her reading at the Nashville Public Library on May 3 at 6:15 p.m. The event, part of the Salon@615 series, is free and open to the public.

Published Monday, 29 April 2013

Found in Translation

Jennifer Uman discovered the story for her first children’s book through a language she doesn’t speak

by Susannah Felts

April 25, 2013 While many illustrated children’s books are collaborative efforts, few involve an international partnership quite like the one that resulted in Jemmy Button, a beautiful new work by Nashville illustrator Jennifer Uman and Italian illustrator Valerio Vidali. Their creation, based on a fascinating true story from the annals of Victorian-era exploration and colonialism, looks at the ways in which linguistic and cultural boundaries and identities can—and can’t—be breached or dismantled. But it also tells a story of estrangement, homesickness, and a journey across the sea that should engage young children and adult readers alike.

Published Friday, 26 April 2013

Death Becomes Him

In The Faithful Executioner, Joel Harrington examines the meaning of justice, honor, and the law in Reformation-era Europe

by Tim Boyd

April 24, 2013 During the late sixteenth century, the city of Nuremberg was a bustling commercial metropolis at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. As one of the first cities to convert to Lutheranism in the 1520s, it was also on the front lines of the Reformation. In The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century, Vanderbilt historian Joel Harrington considers this world as it is revealed in the extensive diary of Frantz Schmidt, the city’s public executioner for more than forty years.

Published Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Semple Gifts

Maria Semple talks about writing sitcoms, saving frogs, and turning her bestselling novel into a film

by Sarah Norris

April 23, 2013 In Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple’s protagonist offers a scathing and hilarious criticism of Seattle and almost everyone she encounters there. Widely cited as one of the best books of 2012, the epistolary novel became a national bestseller. Semple will discuss Where’d You Go, Bernadette, released in paperback this month, during a Wine with the Author evening hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Published Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Tough Love

Inman Majors talks about his latest novel, Love’s Winning Plays, the subtlety of satire, the mechanization of modern college football, and the toughness of coaches’ wives

by Bradley Hartsell

April 18, 2013 As a child of the Majors football dynasty in Tennessee, Inman Majors grew up loving the sport and absorbing all the stories that come from a family with tales worth hearing a few times over. So perhaps it’s no surprise that one day he would have no choice but to write about it. Prior to his free public reading on April 25 at Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy, Majors talks with Chapter 16 about his comic novel, Love’s Winning Plays.

Published Thursday, 18 April 2013

Inventing Ways to be Honest

Karen Russell talks with Chapter 16 about why she broke up with Amazon, how it feels to be on the shortlist for a Pulitzer Prize that was not awarded, and the distinction between fantasy and fiction

by Stephen Usery

April 15, 2013Stephen Usery first spoke with Karen Russell in 2011 after the release of her debut novel, Swamplandia!. In 2012, the book was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. That year no prize was given, a decision which created quite a stir in the literary world. Today Usery talks with Russell about the controversy, as well as about her new story collection,Vampires in the Lemon Grove. To hear a podcast of the interview, click here.

Published Monday, 15 April 2013

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