Literary Nashville Format: Paperback

There are many accents in Nashville: from the twang of country music and rockabilly to the well-bred tones of Belle Meade society. From Davy Crockett tales and the Agrarians to the Billboard Top 100 and Goo-Goo Clusters, Nashville is known around the world. Yet the true identity of the city is best realized through a reading of its fiction, memoir, poetry, and other writings spanning from frontier days to today. The real Nashville is last revealed in the pages of Literary Nashville through portraits of the city by 40 writers, including such vignettes as the William Price Fox story that inspired Robert Altman's classic, Nashville; John Berendt's portrait of the city's famous blue-blooded cross-dresser; Langston Hughes's telling of his first-ever reading in the South at Fisk University, Ann Patchett's memories of the Swan Ball, the country music tales of Bland Simpson and Lee Smith, the poetry of Nikki Giovanni and James Dickey, and much more.

Patrick Allen is the author and editor of numerous books. He lives in Athens, Georgia. (Patrick Allen)