About

Our Purpose

Southern Literary Review celebrates Southern authors and their contributions to American literature.  We profile classic Southern writers who have defined Southern literature and interview contemporary writers from a wide variety of genres.  With hundreds of pages of original content, we are dedicated to offering quality information about America’s Southern authors and their works. Browse our excellent book reviews on new Southern novels as well as the classics of Southern literature.

SLR was founded in 2004 by Jamie Cox Robertson. Having overhauled SLR in the spring of 2009, the editors invited several new contributors to produce fresh content on a regular basis. New York Times best-selling author Julie Cantrell served as editor-in-chief for nearly two years, and Adele Annesi joined as managing editor. With the release of her novel Into the Free, Julie stepped down from her role as editor-and-chief; Adele stepped down with Julie. After years as dedicated contributors, Philip K. Jason and Allen Mendenhall took the reins of SLR in November 2011. Phil served as publisher and executive editor until 2020, while Allen served as managing editor and then as editor. In 2020, Allen became publisher and editor-in-chief. Donna Meredith became associate editor in 2017 and then publisher and editor-in-chief in 2022. Claire Hamner Matturro became associate editor in 2020, and Dawn Major became associate editor in 2022.

Authors who have contributed reviews, essays, or interviews to SLR include John Shelton Reed, Ace Atkins, Julia Nunnally Duncan, Karen White, Clyde Edgerton, James Nolan, Moira Crone, Charles J. Shields, Daniel Wallace, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Paulette Jiles, Steve Yarbrough, Irene Latham, James Lee Burke, John Brandon, Kevin Brockmeier, Mark Richard, Octavia Spencer, Robin Oliveira, and David Bradley.

Contributors

SLR is always looking for talented writers and serious readers to contribute to this site.  We have several books available for review. Please contact Donna Meredith at meredithds@comcast.net if you are interested in reviewing for SLR.

Submission and Publisher Guidelines

Visit our Submission Guidelines by clicking here.