AM: Amy, thanks for doing this interview about Red Dirt Press. Congratulations, too, for reaching the six year mark. You focus on publishing poetry and prose that examines the complexities and diversities of the New South. You also have a focus on social justice issues that are global in nature yet connect to the New […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Julie E. Justicz, Author of “Degrees of Difficulty”
October 3, 2019 by Leave a Comment
AM: Julie, thanks for doing this interview about your debut novel, Degrees of Difficulty. Congratulations, by the way. This book is the heart-wrenching story of a family drawn together and torn apart by a series of struggles, most of which involve Ben, the disabled son and brother of the other characters: Perry (father), Caroline (mother), […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Joe Taylor, Author of “Ghostly Demarcations”
October 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
AM: Joe, I’m so happy about this interview. We’re just down the road from each other, so I’m glad for the opportunity to connect. Your new book is Ghostly Demarcations. I’d like to start by asking about the title, specifically the word “demarcations.” JT: Allen, well I half stole the title from a poem by […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Layton Green, Author of “A Shattered Lens”
September 25, 2019 by Leave a Comment
AM: I’m glad we get to do this interview, Layton. I was intrigued when A Shattered Lens arrived in the mail and I opened the package and read this praise on the front cover: “Dostoevsky and Poe would be proud.” You don’t often hear Dostoevsky and Poe lumped together, but I knew instantly that whatever […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Judge William Alsup, Author of “Won Over”
September 11, 2019 by 2 Comments
AM: Judge Alsup, I’m grateful that you’ve shared your time to do this interview for Southern Literary Review. The occasion for the interview is, of course, the publication of your memoir, Won Over, which has this subtitle: “Reflections of a Federal Judge on His Journey from Jim Crow Mississippi.” What made you decide to write […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Heather Webber, Author of “Midnight at the Blackbird Café”
August 28, 2019 by Leave a Comment
AM: Heather, thanks for doing this interview about Midnight at the Blackbird Café, a novel about Anna Kate, who finds herself back in Alabama upon her grandmother’s death. I’m curious how someone from Massachusetts who lives in Ohio decided on Alabama as the setting for this book. And for the readers’ sake, I’ll point out […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Marjorie Herrera Lewis, Author of “When the Men Were Gone”
August 21, 2019 by Leave a Comment
APM: Marjorie, so happy we get to chat about When the Men Were Gone, your novel that features protagonist Tylene Wilson, a teacher during World War II who winds up coaching a high school football team. There’s a sort of A League of Their Own vibe to the book. When did you think up this […]
Allen Mendenhall Interviews Susan Cushman, Author of “Friends of the Library”
June 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
AM: Susan, so glad we get to do this interview. Friends of the Library is your latest book, a collection of short stories. This is the fifth book you’ve published in just two years. What’s going on? How have you become so productive? SC: Hi, Allen. Thanks so much for the opportunity to chat. And […]