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 […]
“Dirty Myrtle” by Kennedy Weible
August 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Dirty Myrtle (Apprentice House 2026) by Kennedy Weible is an oft-times zany crime caper novel set in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and it moves at a furious pace, filled with quirky plot twists, unconventional characters, and even quirkier twists of fate. In that regard, it is comparable to the zany crime caper novels of Tim […]
Blair Lee Lunn
August 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Blair Lee Lunn is a writer and educator from North Carolina and the author of Emergence (Bottlecap Press). Her interests in reading and study include the craft of writing, speculative fiction, and queer and multicultural American literature. Among other places, her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, The Sun, and The Masters Review Anthology. […]
“Understanding Jorie Graham” by N. S. Boone
July 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In Understanding Jorie Graham, (South Carolina Press, 2025), N. S. Boone presented an in-depth view of Jorie Graham’s background and a detailed view of her poetry. Extremely well-researched, this author also utilized personal phone interviews with Graham and quoted what others have said or written about her poetry. With Graham’s books for reference, N. S. […]
“Bullets in the Water” by Conor McAnally
July 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
It is not often, in these days of perpetual motion and constant demands for our time and attention, that a book comes along and simply demands to be devoured in a single sitting. Conor McAnally’s debut novel, Bullets in the Water, is one such book. Mystery, murder, mysticism, political intrigue, redemption, and loss – this […]
Donna Meredith interviews Phil Oakley, author of The Oakleys series
July 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Book Summaries Little Hatchet When his brother is kidnapped from their New Mexico cabin, 12-year-old Walter Oakley sets off in pursuit, launching a multi-generational saga. Following the Oakley family from 1800s frontier life among Apaches and Comanches through Prohibition-era Texas, Little Hatchet chronicles their courageous struggle for survival amid unimaginable tragedy, violence, and determination. Runners […]
Trillium Meeks interviews Conor McAnally, author of “Bullets in the Water”
July 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Conor McAnally is a Renaissance man of the media world, having produced television shows, worked as an investigative journalist, starred in plays he wrote, and published short stories. He has won awards for many of these pieces. I was asked to review his debut novel, Bullets in the Water, and became so engrossed in it […]