Dawn Major discovered Gregory Ariail’s debut novel, The Gospel of Rot, through Mercer University Press, a publisher of Southern authors and/or books on Southern themes. issues, and interests. She was immediately taken in by the description on the back of the book and knew The Gospel of Rot would prove to be complex and challenging […]
Dawn Major interviews Scott Gould
January 18, 2023 by Leave a Comment
I was introduced to Scott Gould through another South Carolina author, George Singleton. I reviewed Gould’s short story collection Strangers to Temptation and his first novel, Whereabouts on my blog, SouthernRead. He also wrote a memoir recently, Things That Crash, Things That Fly that is still on my “Must Read” stack. I didn’t know what […]
Claire Hamner Matturro interviews author John Yearwood
January 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
CHM: Thank you, John Yearwood, for giving Southern Literary Review a bit of your time and attention with these questions. First, let me congratulate you on writing such a powerful book. Jar of Pennies is an excellent novel, categorized as “cultural heritage fiction” and “historical murder mystery thriller.” Though primarily, perhaps, the story of a […]
Donna Meredith interviews Mitzi Dorton, author of “Chief Corn Tassel”
December 20, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Mitzi Dorton grew up in the southern Appalachian foothills in a town where tribes met since ancient times and smoked pipes of peace, and where Chief Corn Tassel spoke at one of the treaty meetings. There, she often walked between two time periods on the swinging bridge across the Holston River in Kingsport, Tennessee to […]
Dawn Major interviews Janisse Ray, author of “The Woods of Fannin County”
December 7, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Associate Editor of Southern Literary Review, Dawn Major originally met Southern author, poet, activist, Janisse Ray while Major was a graduate student attending the Etowah Valley MFA Creative Writing Program. Ray taught a nonfiction workshop then and was the keynote speaker for the graduating class. DM: I know you had some anxiety over publishing fiction […]