The weather was perfect here in Middle Tennessee for honoring Earth Day on April 22, and we were delighted to see that PBS NewsHour chose to mark the occasion by featuring an interview with Tennessee's own Margaret Renkl, who urges us to fall in love with the natural wonders in our own backyards. If you need more inspiration for turning your yard into an oasis for biodiversity, check out Chris Moody's recent piece for The Washington Post Magazine, in which he explains the vital importance — and occasional challenges — of trading the conventional turf grass lawn for native plants.
Independent Bookstore Day is coming up on Saturday, April 30, and there is no better time to show your favorite local bookstore some love. Or spread the love around to several indie bookstores! Demoir Books & Things in Memphis is currently raising money via GoFundMe to help cover costs and sustain programming, and we encourage Chapter 16 readers to chip in there or anywhere a bookstore needs support.
Since we're all about storytelling here at Chapter 16, we'd like to alert Knoxville-area readers to The Knoxville Covid Story Project, opening this week at Flying Anvil Theatre. Drawn from interviews with Knoxvillians about their pandemic experiences, the narrative was shaped by Flying Anvil artistic director Jayne Morgan and poet/playwright Linda Parsons.
Speaking of Knoxville, Sarah Norris reviews Adriana Trigiani's The Good Left Undone today at Chapter 16 ahead of Trigiani's May 6 event at the East Tennessee History Center. Last week, Faye Jones explained her Poetry Month tradition; G. Robert Frazier reviewed Don Winslow's City on Fire; Bradley Sides reviewed the latest novel by Steve Yarbrough, Stay Gone Days; and Abby N. Lewis considered Live Caught, the debut novel by R. Cathey Daniels.
