The Southern Literary Review celebrates Southern authors and their contributions to American literature. We feature classic writers who have defined Southern literature, and we highlight emerging authors with interviews, profiles, and book reviews. We support independent bookstores. If you subscribe to our newsletter, please add southernliteraryreview@comcast.net to your email contacts list so that the newsletter doesn’t […]
Jennifer Horne
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A former Poet Laureate of Alabama (2017-2021), Jennifer Horne is also the author of three collections of poems, Bottle Tree, Little Wanderer, and Borrowed Light, In addition to poetry, she is the author a collection of short stories, Tell the World You’re a Wildflower and a biography of the writer Sara Mayfield, Odyssey of a Wandering Mind: The Strange […]
“How My Father Became a Boat” by John Miller
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Jennifer Horne Grief can take myriad forms after the loss of a beloved parent: memorials, rituals, foodways, domestic shrines, or just silence. Poets tend to grieve in writing. The collection in How My Father Became a Boat (Fernwood Press 2025), was assembled over many years (some of the poems have original journal publication […]
Dawn Major interviews Nancy J. Allen, author of “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes and Other Stories”
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Award-winning author, Nancy J. Allen’s A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes is a collection of twelve stories that explores those pivotal moments in time where everything shifts. Across the collection, her characters’ decisions—sometimes impulsive, sometimes seemingly inconsequential—cause a butterfly effect that alters the trajectory of their lives. Set in the Southwest, Allen’s honors the enduring […]
“The Things of This World” poetry by Michael David Blanchard
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In his recent collection, The Things of This World (Kelsay Books 2026), poet and professor Michael David Blanchard tasks his poems with finding a reckoning, thereby inviting readers toward a parallel accounting. Anchored by this theme of moral inventory, the collection showcases Blanchard’s deep appreciation for the art of poetry and his talent for shaping […]
“Tore All to Pieces” By Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.
September 16, 2026 by Leave a Comment
I first picked up Tore All to Pieces (University Press of Kentucky 2026) by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference this past March. After hearing him speak on two panels, I was immediately taken by the sincerity in which he spoke about growing up in Appalachia and the challenges that […]
A Big “Thank You” to Associate Editor Dawn Major
September 16, 2026 by 1 Comment
After serving as Associate Editor and contributing many reviews and author interviews, Dawn Major is stepping down from that leadership role to concentrate on her own writing at year’s end. Thankfully, she will continue to contribute occasional reviews and interviews to SLR. Dawn Major received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Etowah Valley Writing […]