School of Letters to Offer Public Events, June 5
The Sewanee School of Letters will host a series of public events during its summer session in June and July. You are invited to attend these conversations and readings with visiting faculty and guest authors.
The series kicks off the summer with a conversation and book signing with authors Patrick Dean and Rachel Martin at the University Bookstore on Monday, June 5, at 5:30 p.m., with School of Letters Director Justin Taylor. Books will be available for sale. Dean’s new book on the naturalist Mark Catesby is “Nature’s Messenger,” and his first book, a Sewanee favorite, is “A Window to Heaven” about adventurer, reformer, and Episcopal priest Hudson Stuck.
Martin’s new book is “A Most Tolerant Little Town,” about the first school in Tennessee to attempt court-ordered desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Martin is also the author of “Hot, Hot Chicken,” which recounts the history of Nashville’s Black communities through the story of its hot chicken scene.
Jimmy Wilson at the Blue Chair will offer Nashville hot chicken as part of the dinner menu at the Blue Chair immediately following the June 5 book signing.
Save the date for two special events in mid-June: Poet Matthew Olzmann, this year’s John Grammer Fellow, will read in Naylor Auditorium in Gailor Hall on Wednesday, June 14, at 4:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Blake & Bailey Family Fund.
And, in partnership with Tower Community Bank, there will be a conversation and reading with author and Sewanee professor Kevin Wilson, in Convocation Hall on Thursday, June 15, at 5:30 p.m. with a reception immediately following.
Wednesday afternoon faculty readings at Gailor Hall will be June 7 with Nickole Brown and Adam Price, and June 28 with Vievee Francis and Justin Taylor. Friends of the Library will co-host a faculty reading with Meera Subramanian and Ryan Chapman on June 21. School of Letters degree candidates will read on July 12 at 7 p.m. Look for a complete calendar in the June 2 issue of the Sewanee Messenger and online at
The School of Letters offers an MFA in creative writing. Please visit the School’s website for more information on the program. Special thanks to Tower Community Bank, the Blake & Bailey Family Fund, the Friends of the Library, the Blue Chair, and the Dakin Fund.