The Southern Literary Review celebrates southern authors and their contributions to American literature. We feature the classic writers who have defined southern literature, and we highlight emerging authors through interviews, profiles, and book reviews. In an effort to back independent bookstores and to encourage creativity in the publishing world, SLR is an IndieBound supporter.
“Undercurrents,” by Mary Anna Evans
September 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Author Mary Anna Evans never disappoints. That’s rare for authors of a long-running mystery series because the confines of the genre, compounded with the repetition of characters, often leads to staleness. But Evans’s Faye Longchamp archaeological mystery series is emphatically not stale. Evans proves as much in her eleventh novel […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Mike Burrell, Author of “The Land of Grace”
September 11, 2018 by Leave a Comment
AM: Mike, so glad to do this interview with you. In the universe of improbable plots, the one you’ve created involving a religious cult devoted to worshiping Elvis has got to be the shining star. How in the hell did you come up with it? MB: Yes, thank you for having me, Allen. This story sprang […]
September Read of the Month: “When Nighttime Shadows Fall,” by Diane Michael Cantor
September 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Brandy Renee McCann As a social scientist and native to southern Appalachia, I picked up Diane Michael Cantor’s novel, When Nighttime Shadows Fall (University of South Carolina Press, 2017), with interest. Similar to the characters in the novel, in 1976 my eighteen-year-old mother was pregnant with me. My folks were married at the time […]
Brandy Renee McCann
September 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Brandy Renee McCann writes both creatively and scientifically about intimacy, aging, and Appalachia. She has a MA in English and a PhD in Human Development, both from Virginia Tech. Brandy’s recent short story, “Of A Certain Age,” can be found in The Dead Mule. Brandy currently lives in southern Vermont with her husband, sons, and […]
“Reading the Coffee Grounds and Other Stories,” by Niles Reddick
August 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Susan Cushman As I review Pulitzer-nominee Niles Reddick’s latest short story collection, Reading the Coffee Grounds and Other Stories, I am also taking a stab at working in this genre for the first time myself. As a novelist, memoirist, essayist, and anthology editor, I’m new to writing short stories. I’m in awe of […]
Susan Cushman
August 28, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Susan Cushman is author of a novel, Cherry Bomb, and memoir, Tangles and Plaques: A Mother and Daughter Face Alzheimer’s, and editor of Southern Writers on Writing and A Second Blooming: Becoming the Women We Are Meant to Be. Her essays have appeared in four anthologies and numerous journals and magazines. She was co-director of […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Michel Stone, Author of “Border Child”
August 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment
AM: The paperback release of Border Child appears to be timely, Michel, in light of the separation of families that’s occurring right now at the Mexican border [editor’s note: this interview took place in early July]. I’m sure you’re getting all kinds of interview requests. I appreciate your time. Where did the idea for the […]