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 […]
“Southern Women, Southern Landscapes: Cultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870–1970” by Judith W. Page and Elise L. Smith
September 9, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A fascinating blend of art, literature, and history, Southern Women, Southern Landscapes: Cultural Reflections on the Garden, 1870-1970 (University of Mississippi Press, 2026) by Judith W. Page and Elise L. Smith offers a richly researched and original exploration of the intersection between gardening and creative expression. The authors’ extensive scholarship, combined with the book’s thoughtful […]
“No Way Out But Through” by Susan Beckham Zurenda
September 9, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Susan Beckham Zurenda’s No Way Out But Through tells the harrowing story of Grace, a fifteen-year-old girl forced to marry the older man who raped her. The book is a fictional portrayal but inspired by true experience. Remarkably, child marriage remains legal for those under eighteen in thirty-three states (with parental or judicial permission), and four […]
“Perceptions of Justice: Law, Literature, and Film” by Terry Lewis
September 9, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Terry Lewis’s excellent first venture into a nonfiction book, Perceptions of Justice: Law, Literature, and Film (2026), demands reader involvement. The former judge employs a Socratic method, posing questions that encourage readers to examine their own perceptions of justice and to formulate a personal philosophy of belief. Drawing not only on his courtroom experience, but […]
“A Priest Walks into a Waffle House” by Lauretta Hannon
September 9, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A Priest Walks into a Waffle House by Lauretta Hannon is a collection of ninety nonlinear short stories. So, let me just tell you right here and now, Lauretta is a hoot. Not only that but she makes a very good case for the proper use of punctuation in her first chapter when she writes, […]
“Little Stone, Little Stone” by Jennifer Schomburg Kanke
September 9, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Little Stone, Little Stone (Sheila-Na-Gig, 2026) by Jennifer Schomburg Kanke chronicles the poet’s deeply personal journey through ovarian cancer while also honoring the lives of well-known women who died from the disease. Often called the “silent killer” because its symptoms are subtle and frequently misdiagnosed, ovarian cancer becomes both subject and shadow throughout this collection. […]
Pulitzer Prize Winner Brian Goldstone to Keynote Trident United Way’s State of Our Families
September 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
What happens when having a job is no longer enough to afford a home? Journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone will bring that question to North Charleston on Tuesday, Oct. 13, as keynote speaker for Trident United Way’s 2026 State of Our Families. Goldstone’s nonfiction debut, “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in […]