TN Shakespeare Co. Explores Ann Patchett's Works in its Southern Literary Salon Series

Tennessee Shakespeare Company brings the next installment of its Southern Literary Salon Series to the Tabor Stage, Truth and Beauty of Ann Patchett on Sunday, March 26 at 3:00 pm. Patchett is the author of eight novels, four nonfiction books, and two children's books; and she is the co-founder of Parnassus Books in Nashville.

Generously sponsored by Dorothy O. Kirsch, Truth and Beauty of Ann Patchett, which will run for approximately one hour without intermission, is curated and directed by TSC's Stephanie Shine. TSC's Southern Literacy Salons are unique, fun social hours of curated readings, scenes, and discussions that explore Southern authors and subjects of significance, with a signature cocktail or two.

Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling (901) 759-0604.

The cast of TSC veteran actors includes Shine, Dan McCleary, Cara McHugh Geissler, Lauren Gunn, Nicolas Dureaux Picou, and Mackenzie White. The actors will read and play Patchett's work, bringing to life essays found in This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, as well as moments from Bel Canto, The Dutch House, State of Wonder, and Run.

"It is her singular vision, great imagination, and expansive curiosity that gives Ann's writing its depth and breadth," says Shine. "I am always taken with her work, be it fiction or nonfiction. Her sense of truth and beauty is what will take focus in our Salon. We will glory in the beauty found in some of her novels, and find comfort in the universal truths of her nonfiction."

Ann Patchett, who lives in Nashville, TN, is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her novel Bel Canto won the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Orange Prize, and the BookSense Book of the Year, and she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Booksellers Association's Most Engaging Author Award, and the Women's National Book Association's Award, among others. The Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She founded Parnassus Books in Nashville in 2011 with her business partner Karen Hayes and has become a prominent champion for independent booksellers.

Patchett said of her work in The Getaway Car: "Over the years I've come to realize that I write the book I want to read, the one I can't find anywhere. I also realized - and learned this more with every novel I've written - that the plot had to be complicated enough and interesting enough to keep me sitting in a straight-backed chair seven days a week."