Dead Letters from Paradise (Bywater Books, 2022) by Ann McMann blends literary mystery, historical fiction, and romance with entirely delightful results. There are no dead bodies in this mystery, and there’s no overt sex in the romance. Yet here are two reasons—among many—to love this novel. First, the crisp, yet lyrical prose style, coupled with […]
Change of Leadership at SLR
July 13, 2022 by 1 Comment
After devoting more than a decade of service to Southern Literary Review, including serving as editor-in-chief and publisher, Allen Mendenhall is stepping down from those roles. Allen has written and published over one hundred of his own book reviews and author interviews on SLR, most recently moving from Q/A print interviews to a video format. […]
“A Literary Life of Sutton E. Griggs: The Man on the Firing Line” by John Cullen Gruesser
July 8, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Thorough research underpins John Cullen Gruesser’s A Literary Life of Sutton E. Griggs (Oxford University Press, 2022)—and every serious student of Black literature will want to read this biography of an important figure in American history. While the book’s main focus is on Griggs’s writings, it also covers his family and his contributions to the […]
Julie E. Bloemeke
June 28, 2022 by 1 Comment
Julie E. Bloemeke (she/her) is the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Finalist for Poetry for her debut full-length collection Slide to Unlock (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020), which was also chosen as a 2021 Book All Georgians Should Read. Co-editor with Dustin Brookshire for the forthcoming Dolly Parton poetry anthology (Madville Publishing, 2023), she is also an associate editor […]
Welcome!
June 27, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The Southern Literary Review celebrates Southern authors and their contributions to American literature. We feature classic writers who have defined Southern literature, and we highlight emerging authors with interviews, profiles, and book reviews. We support independent bookstores. If you subscribe to our newsletter, please add southernliteraryreview@comcast.net to your email contacts list so that the newsletter doesn’t […]
“Wish Me Joy, West Virginia” by Valerie Banfield
June 25, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Those who enjoyed Catherine Marshall’s Christy will enjoy the way faith is incorporated into Valerie Banfield’s Wish Me Joy, West Virginia. Those who enjoyed Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek and Donna Everhart’s The Saints of Swallow Hill will like way Banfield delivers the historical aspects of a small town. And anyone […]