Astounding as it may seem for admirers of Southern author, poet, activist Janisse Ray, The Woods of Fannin County (Janisse Ray, 2022) is her first time publishing fiction. Maybe more surprising is her anxiety over venturing into fiction. The Woods of Fannin County is an unfathomable story, and perhaps, fiction made it easier to tell […]
December Read of the Month: “The Woods of Fannin County” by Janisse Ray
December 7, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Dawn Major interviews Kim Woods Miller about “The Woods of Fannin County”
December 7, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Associate Editor of Southern Literary Review, Dawn Major was sharing Janisse Ray’s latest work, her novel, The Woods of Fannin County, on her Facebook page when a family member of the abandoned children Ray wrote about, Kim Woods Miller, thanked her for reading her family’s story. The novel is a work of fiction, inspired by […]
October Read of the Month: “Haints on Black Mountain: A Haunted Short Story Collection” by Ann Hite
October 6, 2022 by Leave a Comment
There are novelists who never master the short story form or who wouldn’t consider writing memoir. There are also writers of short fiction who balk at the idea of committing to a novel. And though 2012 Georgia Author of the Year and Townsend Prize finalist Ann Hite stays true to her Appalachian settings and Southern […]
Flooding in Eastern Kentucky Devastates a Community and Hindman Settlement School
August 24, 2022 by Leave a Comment
If you’re wondering why these books are muddied and swimming in water, it’s because this is just a small example of the destruction force that hit Eastern Kentucky a few weeks ago. At the end of July 2022, incredibly destructive thunderstorms and rain and deadly flash flooding swept through Kentucky. The Hindman Settlement School was […]
Dawn Major interviews Michelle Dotter, editor-in-chief of Dzanc Books
August 3, 2022 by Leave a Comment
I became acquainted with Michelle Dotter, editor-in-chief of Dzanc Books, through the Team Gay—a group of scholars, artists, writers, and enthusiasts who have been working on publishing William Gay’s posthumous books. It was a real honor working with Michelle. The team absolutely bombarded her with emails debating what some might think to be trivial points—why […]