Kashif Andrew Graham

2 months ago | chapter16.org | Aram Goudsouzian |Ed Tarkington |Kashif Andrew Graham |Clay Risen

FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: This review was originally published on September 5, 2018. ***The young woman and the old man shared clingstone peaches. She brought him a Virginia ham and a ripe watermelon. Once they feasted on a “marvelous mess of blue crabs.” When the old man felt like it, he told her stories of his life—of Africa, of the Middle Passage, of slavery and freedom, of resilience and heartache. Nearly a century later, we have Barracoon, his remarkable and painful memoir.

Dec 2, 2024 | chapter16.org | Kashif Andrew Graham |Maria Browning

Load in Nine Times is Frank X. Walker’s poetic exploration of American life in the period surrounding the Civil War. In his 12th volume of poetry, Walker marches us through the groundswell of the antebellum period, the war, and the sorrows of Reconstruction. The collection takes Kentucky as its geographical framework, speaking through enslaved mothers, fathers, and children and masters and mistresses.

Oct 17, 2024 | nashvillescene.com | Kashif Andrew Graham

Devil Is Fine is John Vercher’s third novel on biraciality. In this book, a biracial father grieves his deceased son and dying career, realizing he only understands both through a post-mortem examination. To further complicate matters, he finds himself the sudden owner of a former plantation, whose haunting blurs the line between reality and imagination. We spoke to John Vercher ahead of his appearance at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Oct 1, 2024 | chapter16.org | Kashif Andrew Graham

Devil is Fine is John Vercher’s third novel on biraciality. In this book, he takes us to a coastal town and to grief. Both locales, we discover, are sites of absurdism. A biracial father grieves his deceased son and dying career, realizing that he only understands both through a post-mortem examination. To further complicate matters, he finds himself the sudden owner of a former plantation, whose haunting blurs the line between reality and imagination.

Jun 20, 2024 | nashvillescene.com | Kashif Andrew Graham

See also: The author’s 2023 Pride Essay, “Notes on [Jeremy] Camp.”I. It is April 3, 2024. The downtown Nashville traffic is finally clearing. I gun the Jeep, but my relief is broken by the activation of a pedestrian crossing. Red lights flash as a lone Nashlorette prances into the street. I sigh and my gaze falls to the opposite sidewalk. I first see the chestnut head of spikes. And then he comes into full view. Jeremy Camp is a little shorter than I imagined, flanked by his wife and kids.