CHAPTER 16 book with flipping pages
 

AUGUST 11, 2025

EDITOR'S NOTE

 
 

It's an all-festival lineup at Chapter 16 this week, with reviews of three very different books by authors who'll be joining us in Nashville on October 18-19. Cheryl McKissack Daniel, a Nashville native, will discuss The Black Family Who Built America, her account of her remarkable Tennessee family and their architectural and entrepreneurial legacy. Reviewer Peggy Burch describes the book as "disarmingly frank," depicting business tactics and behind-the-scenes disputes. Carrie R. Moore will be at the festival with Make Your Way Home, her debut collection of stories characterized by Sara Beth West as "full of joy and fear, each of them ready to bear witness to love." And Patrick Dean will be on hand to talk about Nature's Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World. Catesby, an 18th-century explorer and naturalist, penned an influential book about the flora and fauna of the Southeast, and reviewer Michael Ray Taylor describes Dean's Catesby as "a talented, if enigmatic and largely forgotten, lover of Southern nature."  


A reminder for Memphis-area readers: Acclaimed scholar Dr. Danielle Allen will deliver a lecture at Rhodes College on September 18, "250 Years of Our Declaration of Independence." This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. 


Readers in the Johnson City region should mark their calendars for upcoming events at ETSU: The university's creative writing program will host poet Li-Young Lee on for two events on September 24, and Pulitzer Prize winner Gregory Pardlo will appear with Valencia Robin on October 22. 


 
 

THIS WEEK AT CHAPTER 16

 
REVIEW The Black Family Who Built America colon The McKissacks comma Two Centuries  of Daring Pioneers  By Cheryl McKissack Daniel comma with Nick Charles covers

The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries

of Daring Pioneers

By Cheryl McKissack Daniel,

with Nick Charles


IN REVIEWS


A Legacy in Bricks and Steel


Cheryl McKissack Daniel builds on her family’s bold 200-year history in construction.


By Peggy Burch



REVIEW Make Your Way Home  By Carrie R. Moore covers

Make Your Way Home

By Carrie R. Moore


IN REVIEWS


A Sense of Place


Carrie R. Moore’s debut story collection effortlessly holds simultaneous truths.



By Sara Beth West




REVIEW From the Archive  Nature’s Messenger colon Mark Catesby  and His Adventures in a New World  By Patrick Dean covers

From the Archive

Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby

and His Adventures in a New World

By Patrick Dean




IN REVIEWS


An Enlightened Message


In Nature’s Messenger, Patrick Dean follows an 18th-century naturalist of the American South.


By Michael Ray Taylor


VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY PRESENTS THE SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS A PROGRAM OF HUMANITIES TENNESSEEPeople in book signing tent

NEWS ROUNDUP

 





  • Jared Sullivan wrote about one family's struggle with autism for the Nashville Banner. 
 

COMING UP AT CHAPTER 16

 
  • Review of The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush by Susan Gregg Gimore (appearing at Novel in Memphis on 9/2, Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on 9/11, and the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on 10/18-19)


  • Review of Typewriter Beach by Meg Waite Clayton (appearing at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on 10/18-19)


  • Q&A with Yolanda Pierce re The Wounds Are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory into Justice and Healing (appearing at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on 10/18-19)
 

CHAPTER 16 IS A PROGRAM OF HUMANITIES TENNESSEE

Humanities Tennessee
 
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INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR HUMANITIES TENNESSEE PROVIDED IN PART BY:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES WRITTE TWICE WITH BALD EAGLE OLIVE BRANCH AND ARROWS  E PLURIBUS UNUM RED WHITE STRIPED AND BLUE SHIELD
TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION Cultivate. Cerate. Participate.
 
METRO ARTS NASHVILLE OFFICE OF ARTS + CULTURE
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