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.
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Jessica Hooten Wilson
June 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment
AM: You’ve written three books in quick succession that should appeal to readers of Southern Literary Review. The first involves Flannery O’Connor, and the second and third, Walker Percy. I’d like to start by asking about the second book, Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search for Influence, because I’m also interested in notions of influence. Read […]
“The Language of Vision,” by Joseph R. Millichap
June 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by MW Rishell In The Language of Vision: Photography and Southern Literature in the 1930s and After, Joseph R. Millichap mines a rich stock – the literature of the South – and finds a comparatively new vein, that of photography supporting the cultural aura of kudzu and long memory. Bringing visual rhetoric and the […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Amber D. Tran, Author of “Moon River”
June 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
AM: So glad for the opportunity to talk to you about your debut novel, Moon River. Before we get into the book, I want to ask about your background. I noticed you’re a graduate of West Virginia University. I studied English for my master’s at WVU and graduated from law school at WVU. Did you […]
“Ill-Mannered Ghosts,” by Nicole Sarrocco
June 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Bestsy Randolph Nicole Sarrocco’s Ill-Mannered Ghosts is literary fiction at its finest. Sarrocco manages to combine verisimilitude (she herself claims to have seen ghosts) and the paranormal in a freakishly awesome effort to render the semi-credible story of a southern woman (her sometimes real self) who has the uncanny ability to see, hear, […]
June Read of the Month: “Abraham Anyhow,” by Adam Van Winkle
June 1, 2017 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by William Bernhardt I am particular about how Oklahoma is portrayed in fiction. Perhaps I’m unduly defensive, but at this point, having written more than almost thirty novels set in Oklahoma, in a variety of time periods, I think I’ve earned the right. I chafe when I hear editors, upon hearing that the novel takes […]
“Letters from Paris,” by Juliet Blackwell
May 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Johnnie Bernhard Juliet Blackwell’s Letters from Paris is solid reading entertainment with a lovable protagonist, Claire Broussard, whose small-town Louisiana beginnings lead to tragedy. Blackwell builds suspense without sacrificing seriousness or believability, two common victims of the mystery genre. Perhaps that’s the key to Blackwell’s novel – everything about it is “just right.” […]
“The Myth of Water,” by Jeanie Thompson
May 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Award-winning writer Jeanie Thompson is a brave, bold poet. In The Myth of Water (University of Alabama Press 2016), she presents a remarkable and evocative series of thirty-four poems to tell a deeply personal story of the iconic Helen Keller. And if the concept of historical persona poems wasn’t daring […]
Managing Editor Allen Mendenhall Publishes “Of Bees and Boys,” A Collection of Essays
May 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Managing editor Allen Mendenhall has published his second book this year. Of Bees and Boys, a collection of essays, was released May 10th. From the publisher, Red Dirt Press: In this collection of essays, literary lawyer Allen Mendenhall examines ideas about place, literature, reading, family, and custom from the vanishing perspective of a traditional Southerner. […]