Before I start rambling (and I will ramble), I must get to the point:

Middle Tennessee Writer & Author Suzanne Craig Robertson will celebrate the launch of her new book, He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row, at Parnassus Books on February 21. The event is free, and it will take place IN STORE. 

Translation: Space is limited, and you need to register as ASAP as you can…before it fills up. (Registration is required.)  Click here to launch Suzanne’s registration page over at Parnassus Books. Suzanne’s book is a moving story of a friendship with an inmate on death row. (The Parnassus Books event link has the full details!)

Okay, this is where the rambling begins…

I’ve known Suzanne for about two decades.  Wow:  Twenty Years!  Suzanne’s official bio states that she’s, “a former statewide legal magazine editor and bar association communicator. She holds a Master of Arts in writing and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.”

Yep, all that’s true.  But there’s more, much more to discover.

A long, long time ago, I would pretend something was real, work hard, surround myself with talented people who worked even harder that I did, and somehow…things happened, and there was no reason to pretend any longer. In the spring of 2004, I was preparing to launch another semester of MTSU’s The Writer’s Loft (a low-residency certificate in creative writing program) when a new name appeared on the roster:  Suzanne Craig Robertson.

Semester-to-semester, students came and went for all sorts of reasons.  Some graduated.  Others left, returning a little time later.  And a few vanished.  But a large portion of those aspiring writers have remained in my life all through the years. I’m happy to say that Suzanne is one such writer, one such friend. And I was lucky enough to publish Suzanne early on. 

You see, not long after Suzanne arrived, I started pretending again.  This time, I imagined that MTSU offered a summer writing sabbatical, in Suzanne’s words, “an all-expenses-paid, seven-day trip back in time to your freshman dorm.”

Suzanne was the first student to “enjoy” that week in a MTSU dorm, and somehow she survived her summer on campus.  By this time, after a bit more imagining, the Loft was publishing a journal we called The Trunk; it was a creative companion to the program.  (My mother-in-law Ruby named it, but I’m not supposed to tell that to anyone.). I asked Suzanne if she’s do a write-up of her time in the sabbatical, and in the Summer 2006 issue, we published her piece, “Writer’s Loft Sabbatical Well Worth Hurdles: You’ll Need a Laptop, Coffeepot, and Shower Shoes.”  It was about…well, you’ll just have to read it.  Click here to launch that issue.  Her words are on page 51.

Jump forward a handful of years, and you’ll discover me in downtown Nashville at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Church Street, pretending again.  This time, it was a literary journal: 2nd & Church.  I needed help from my friends because…well, I always need help from my friends.  And in this case, it was all the students, alumni, and mentors from those Loft days…as well as fellow students and alumni from my time studying fiction at The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing in Spalding University.  (And I can’t forget all of my fellow technical writers in corporate America!)

Enter Stage Left:  Suzanne!

I needed someone to write a profile piece on Publishing Veteran Karen Hayes, the co-owner of Parnassus Books, along with bestselling author Ann Patchett.  I asked Suzanne if she would do it, and she was gracious enough to head over to Green Hills to write it up.  And, of course, another Loft veteran (Nashville writer and photographer Terry Price) was kind enough to take the photos!

Entitled, “Parnassus Books: How Publishing Veteran Karen Hayes Helped Change Nashville’s Literary Landscape” appeared in the journal’s Theatre issue, page 22. Click here to launch the issue and read her piece.  I’ve been lucky.  Lucky, lucky, lucky. 

So, here we are: Christmastime, 2022.  In a couple of months, Suzanne is headed back to Parnassus Books to celebrate the birth of her new work, He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row.

I am way more than thrilled for my friend, and I can’t wait to read her words…again.

More praise for He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row:

"Here's the truth: I choked up on the dedication page of this book and now, weeks later, I am still tearing up at random moments, still thinking about this incredibly moving story. Suzanne Robertson takes us with her and her family on a journey to a place that few of us want to see or understand better--but, for the sake of our humanity and community, desperately need to: Death Row. We are introduced to an inmate, Cecil Johnson, who is also a poet, a cook, a football fan, a once-neglected child, a family member, a friend, and a man for whom the justice system did not work as it should. To my amazement, the author gives us moments to laugh on this journey, moments of wonder and even beauty--as well as plenty of moments to weep. He Called Me Sister is a story of becoming family with someone whose life experiences could not be more different, a tale of tragedy and mishandled evidence and crushed dreams--but also of authentic connection and goodness and hope. He Called Me Sister is a must read for all those who are pro-death penalty, all those who are anti-death penalty and, truly, everyone in between." --Joy Jordan-Lake, bestselling author of A Tangled Mercy and Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous

"In this carefully reported, heartrending story of her family's personal relationship with a Death Row prisoner, Suzanne Craig Robertson interrogates the justice system's deep inequities, as well as her own journey from trusting in the system to seeing it for what it is--human-made, biased, and deeply flawed. He Called Me Sister is a captivating story of the power of showing up for one another, of choosing to be in community even in the face of ultimate unknowns." --Erin Keane, author of Runaway: Notes of the Myths that Made Me