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.
Southern Festival of Books Announces Virtual Event
July 11, 2020 by Leave a Comment
SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS ANNOUNCES VIRTUAL EVENT Free Online Event Featuring 100+ Authors – October 1-11, 2020 The Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word announced that its 32nd annual event will take place October 1-11, 2020 online and free-of-charge. Humanities Tennessee, the organizer of the state’s largest literary event, will transition […]
“The Guests on South Battery,” by Karen White
July 9, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Laura Aluise “There is no escaping the dead. On the slender peninsula that is Charleston, we cannot help being surrounded by them, packed as they are into ancient cemeteries behind ornate iron fencing, beneath our streets, under our homes, and parking garages. Most residents of the Holy City are blissfully unaware of its […]
Laura Aluise
July 7, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Laura Aluise is a preschool special needs itinerant teacher currently working on a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Marshall University. She is married with a one-year old daughter who keeps her on her toes. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, exercising, baking, and spending time with her family.
July Read of the Month: “The Archive of Alternative Endings,” by Lindsey Drager
July 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith How to describe it? Exquisite. Literary. Experimental. Perfect in its own unique way, The Archive of Alternative Endings is unlike any other novel I’ve ever read. It’s different. Really different. It doesn’t have a plot, not in the usual sense. The characters don’t invite you to crawl into their skin, walk […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Jodie Sinclair, Author of “Love Behind Bars”
June 30, 2020 by 1 Comment
AM: Jodie, so glad to interview you about this important book and subject, and I’m happy that our mutual friend, Joyce Corrington, introduced us. Your new book is Love Behind Bars, bearing the subtitle “The True Story of An American Prisoner’s Wife.” This is a memoir about the criminal justice system and the fight to […]
“The Book of Cain,” by Jeff Lowe
June 25, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Joshua S. Fullman The story of Cain’s slaying of his brother and fall from grace stands as one of the great myths of the human condition. It rightly claims envy the source of nearly all interpersonal conflict, pitting us against one another for property, position, and approval. Further, it relates the origin of […]
“The Rising Place,” by David Armstrong
June 23, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Review by Philip K. Jason The premise of this highly original novel is as follows: A young lawyer has moved to Hamilton, Mississippi to begin his career. His first job is to draft a will for a seventy-five-year old spinster named Emily Hodge. Emily has spent her life in this town. She is well-known, but […]
“The Orphan of Pitigliano,” by Marina Brown
June 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Marina Brown’s The Orphan of Pitigliano is a feast of Old World mystery and magic, betrayal and heartbreak, sin and redemption. Readers who enjoyed Helen Wecker’s best-selling novel, The Golem and the Jinni, will like Brown’s tale, which also blends Jewish myth into the historical novel. Brown paints her stunning story […]