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 […]
“A Gathering Place” by Vicki Salloum
June 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Mississippi native and resident of New Orleans, Vicki Salloum has magically woven her Lebanese Catholic family’s colorful roots and traditions into a wonderful piece of literary fiction in her novel The Gathering Place (Silent Clamor Press 2025). Ordered by the Mother of God to start a business—an actual gathering place in post-Katrina New Orleans where […]
Jesse Breite
June 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Jesse Breite’s recent poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Tinderbox, Poetry Northwest, Terrain, and Rhino. His first full-length poetry collection is forthcoming from Fernwood Press. Jesse teaches high school in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lives with his wife and two kids. More at jessebreite.com.
“Killing Orpheus” by Forester McClatchey
June 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In the titular poem of Forester McClatchey’s debut poetry collection, Killing Orpheus, the poet-prophet struggles to play a satisfactory song to the masses. From the start, we feel the audience wants sordid entertainment. When “sickle-girl” moves in, the crowd hushes: “Each cut she makes is a marvel of efficiency.” The crowd is drawn into the […]
“The Wondrous Lives and Loves of Nella Carter” by Brionni Nwosu
June 14, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Richly imaginative and provocative, The Wondrous Lives and Loves of Nella Carter (Lake Union 2025) is a time- and continent-spanning novel with social significance. Just as Octavia Butler’s Kindred revealed the depths of humanity’s racism through time travel, so does this debut novel by Brionni Nwosu. But the story goes far beyond exposing negative qualities […]
“Another Fine Mess” by Lindy Ryan
June 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A rural, southeastern Texas town has survived a summer of horrors — for the most part. The ghouls have been slain by the Evans women, like they’ve always done, and the dead can rest now. That is, until more killings start happening. Something is prowling the town and it’s out for blood. The Evans family […]
“Bless Your Heart” by Lindy Ryan
June 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
The sun is rising over a small Texas town and the dead are rising too. Four generations of the Evans family run a funeral parlor, putting the dead to rest, even when they have to kill them again. It’s 1999 now and the buried are growing restless. Something has come to town, leaving a bloody […]