Author Archives: emilycchoate

I really enjoyed the chance to write a new piece celebrating Georgia writer Janisse Ray for Chapter 16. Ray’s devotion to the natural world–and to bringing that world onto the page in innovative ways–has been a beacon for so many … Continue reading →

I look forward to leading a virtual discussion this week on Richard Powers’ masterwork of environmental fiction, The Overstory. Tuesday, July 18th, at 7 PM. Join us via Humanities Tennessee’s Facebook Live or YouTube feeds. I’m delighted to participate as … Continue reading →

I really enjoyed spending time with (and writing some thoughts about) three recent poetry collections–Denton Loving’s Tamp, Evie Shockley’s suddenly we, and Susan O’Dell Underwood’s Splinter. Each of these collections finds a memorable, vibrant language for collisions between the past … Continue reading →

Dream Assignment Alert! As part of Humanities Tennessee’s 50 Books/HT50 Project, I had the chance to take a fresh look at Richard Powers’ masterwork of ecological fiction, The Overstory. This piece, up today at Chapter 16, became an encounter with … Continue reading →

I know so many natural-world-obsessed readers who’ll get hooked on Katy Simpson Smith’s new novel, The Weeds, the way I did. This book brings together two unnamed women botanists, living a century apart, tasked with naming every species growing among … Continue reading →

I was knocked out by poet Anna Laura Reeve’s luminous debut collection, Reaching the Shore of the Sea of Fertility, which finds moving, startling ways of entwining motherhood with the natural world. It was such a pleasure to write about … Continue reading →

Anthologies are always challenging to review, but in this case, the puzzle was how to choose from such abundance. What Things Cost: an anthology for the people, edited by Rebecca Gayle Howell and Ashley M. Jones, is a landmark anthology … Continue reading →

I was delighted to write a round-up review of three memorable, recently published poetry collections by Tennessean poets, including Darius Stewart’s Intimacies in Borrowed Light, Katherine Smith’s Secret City, and Tyler Friend’s Him or Her or Whatever. The review’s up … Continue reading →

I’m delighted to share my Q&A with Knoxville writer Charles Dodd White, up today at Chapter 16. His writing’s dark lyrical voice, closely attuned to the natural world, enters terrain that remains crucial for southern lit to confront. You can … Continue reading →

For my latest review at Chapter 16, I was lucky to get the chance to dive into Jamila Minnicks’ debut novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup, with its wonderful protagonist and fascinating story set in an all-Black Alabama town during the … Continue reading →