Editor’s Notes

The 2025 Southern Festival of Books is just a few days away, and we trust that everyone planning to attend has taken a minute to look over the schedule and the terrific author roster. While you’re perusing the schedule, be sure the click on the menu for the performance stage, which lists the good things on offer there, including a performance…

Tickets are going fast for the October 29 appearance of Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville. Ann Patchett will serve as moderator for this stellar literary evening, and all proceeds for the event will benefit Humanities Tennessee. Tickets are available here, and we’ll be sharing a review of Witherspoon and Coben’s novel, Gone Before Goodbye, next week at Chapter 16.  This…

The 2025 Southern Festival of Books is just 3 weeks away, so if you’re planning to attend, be sure to keep up with the latest announcements via the newsletter and social media. In case you missed it, the schedule of sessions has been announced, and the full list of authors is here. The Authors in the Round dinner is now sold out, but see the event page if you’d…

One of the mixed blessings of this digital age is that there are wonderful stories posted online every day, and only a tiny fraction of them ever reach a large audience. We rarely share such stories from Tennessee writers in the Chapter 16 newsletter, but two caught our eye this past week that deserve a mention.  One…

Michael Zibart, founder of Nashville-based BookPage, passed away on September 5. In an Instagram post, Zibart was remembered as “a visionary and kind leader whose storied career in the book business led to the creation of BookPage in 1988. He was a mentor and friend to many, and will be deeply missed.” The Zibart family has a long history…

The recipients of this year’s Tennessee Book Awards have been announced, and we’re delighted to celebrate three outstanding authors whose work was chosen by a stellar panel of judges. The award for fiction goes to Vic Sizemore of Maryville for his novel God of River Mud, which judge Rebecca Makkai describes as “a layered, nuanced and often harrowing story of people ill-used…