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 […]
“Song of the Chimney Sweep,” by Tamatha Cain
June 8, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The rich musical history of Jacksonville, Florida, provides an appealing backdrop for Tamatha Cain’s debut novel Song of the Chimney Sweep (Orange Blossom Publishing, August 2022). R&B, jazz, and rock stars with Jacksonville roots making appearances include the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ray Charles, Ma Rainey, Blind Blake, and James Weldon […]
“Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss, and Reinvention,” by Katie Joy Duke
May 19, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith A memoir centered around a stillbirth hardly sounds as if it could be full of light and spiritually uplifting, but that’s exactly what Katie Joy Duke’s story Still Breathing: My Journey with Love, Loss, and Reinvention (New Degree Press, May 2022) is. Stillbirth is far more prevalent than most realize, affecting […]
“Crooked Truth,” by Kristine F. Anderson
May 11, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks Reviewed by Donna Meredith Crooked Truth, (Mercer University Press, 2020) Kristine F. Anderson’s outstanding debut novel, asks an important question: how much do we owe our family? Must we sacrifice all our hopes and dreams to accommodate them? The complex examination of one family’s […]