Alabama has its own literary tradition — from hometown friends Harper Lee and Truman Capote to emerging native Alabama authors like Daniel Wallace and Cassandra King.

Harper Lee
Nelle Harper Lee, a descendant of General Robert E. Lee, was born in April 1926 in Monroeville Alabama, the same small town where Truman Capote spent several …

Truman Capote
… At that time, his mother left him with relatives in Monroeville , Alabama while she made a life for herself in New York. … (more…)

SLR’s Founder, and editor until 2010, Jamie Cox Robertson, holds a MA in literature and has taught literature and writing at universities for twelve years.  She lectures on southern literature and other literary topics through universities and adult education programs.

Jamie has two forthcoming books:   A Literary Paris: Hemingway, Colette, Sedaris, and Others on the Uncommon Lure of the City of Light (Adams Media August 2010) and An Uncommon Heroine: Jane, Holly, Sula–and More Than 20 Other of the Most Remarkable Women in Literature (Adams Media November 2010).

Jamie can be reached at JCRo...@southernlitreview.com, and also has a website at JamieCoxRobertson.com.

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As a child, Maya encounters the bruising effects of racism and segregation in America. She lives in Stamps, Arkansas, a town segregated to the point that as a young girl, Maya isn’t sure that white people even exist. As she grows up, her confrontations with racism become more blatant and more personal. For instance, at her eighth grade graduation, a white speaker talks to her in a condescending tone, her white boss calls her Mary, knowing full-well her name. And perhaps the most public example is when a white dentist refuses to provide her service. Even worse, Maya sees how well white girls are treated. She begins to believe that the only way to be treated well is to be beautiful and the only way to be beautiful is to be a blonde-haired, paled-skinned, blue-eyed darling girl.

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Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Dorothy Allison combined her southern roots and raw talent and took the literary community by storm when her first novel, Bastard Out of Carolina, was one of the five finalists for the 1992 National Book Award. Though the novel did not win that award, it did win several other awards and launched Allison’s career.

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Steven Sherrill, born in Morresville, North Carolina, is Assistant Professor of English and Integrative Arts at Penn State Altoona.  His first novel, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break has been translated into eight languages. His second novel, Visits from the Drowned Girl, was published by Random House in June 2004.
Southern Literary Review’s Editor, J.C. Robertson, talked with Steven Sherrill on January 12, 2005.  Sherrill had just returned to Penn State after a three week visit to the MacDowell Institute where he put the finishing touches on his new novel, Mocksville Lights.

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