August Read of the Month: “Moonrise Over New Jessup” by Jamila Minnicks

Moonrise Over New Jessup (Algonquin Books 2023) is a beautifully written, thought-provoking novel about courageous people at the cusp of historical changes. It is the debut novel of Jamila Minnicks, a lawyer and writer. Within all its layers of conflict, it rings with authenticity. Set in a fictional all-Black community of New Jessup in Alabama […]

August Books of Special Note

Nonfiction: Made from Scratch: Finding Success Without a Recipe (R.H. Boyd Publishing, 2023), an autobiography by entrepreneur Mignon Francois, tells the first-hand story of Francois as she turns her budget for a modest meal into a multi-million-dollar bakery brand. A New Orleans native, François is the descendant of enslaved people on a sugar cane plantation—and sugar […]

“Malone Ridge” by James K. Dill

Malone Ridge (Little Star Books 2023) is a well-conceived, well-told tale of spirit triumphing over circumstances. And for Eve Malone, the protagonist, the circumstances are, if not dire, close enough. Born in Nitro, a small West Virginia community in Appalachia, she is living in poverty in a trashy, once-abandoned hunter’s trailer with an outhouse in […]

“Love Letters from an Arsonist” by David van den Berg

In his compelling, imaginative collection of poetry, Love Letters from an Arsonist (2023), David van den Berg treads through a grand old Southern literary campground of gothic, beauty and brutalism, religiosity, and nature—all in the same works. These are intense poems that cry out to be read and reread and absorbed, verses that will not […]

 “Tour of a Lifetime: Glenamaddy to Gomorrah” by Thomas Rabbitt

When Thomas Rabbitt’s first acclaimed book of poetry, Exile (1975), won the prestigious Pitt award, he was a relatively young man. At that time, he was charged with starting a Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing program at The University of Alabama, a program he led to national prominence before retiring in 1998. Rabbitt’s […]

Claire Hamner Matturro interviews poet Thomas Rabbitt

Introduction Claire Hamner Matturro When I was in graduate school at The University of Alabama, Thomas Rabbitt was one of my poetry professors. I took several workshops with him as well as an introduction to modern poetry class. Professor Rabbitt was both an excellent teacher and an excellent poet. I credit him with finally teaching […]