The 35th annual Southern Festival of Books lives up to its slogan — it truly is a celebration of the written word in all its forms. From Oct. 18 through 22, the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Tennessee State Museum, the Tennessee State Library & Archives and additional sites throughout the city will be packed with authors of all stripes. Nonfiction heavyweights like Tracy Kidder and Timothy Egan will be joined by fiction GOATs Ann Patchett and Lorrie Moore. There’s a panel on creativity led by Nashville notables Mary Gauthier, Kevin Griffin and Ruta Sepetys. Photographer Stacy Kranitz will speak about her long-term project documenting Appalachia just hours after curator Kami Ahrens discusses the new edition from the beloved Foxfire series, The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women. And that’s not to mention all the Y.A. and children’s books offerings.

In the following pages — with indispensable help from Maria Browning and the folks at Chapter 16, an initiative of Humanities Tennessee that provides the Scene with books coverage — we’ve highlighted just a handful of our favorites from the fest. We hope our coverage will make it easier for you to create your schedule. There’s a chance we’ve made it even harder. 

For more details on this year’s festival, visit sofestofbooks.org. —LAURA HUTSON HUNTER, ARTS EDITOR 

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