Books of the Year will be announced Dec. 18 The editors of Southern Literary Review select several books each year to receive special recognition. It recognizes books published over the previous two years (with October of the current year as the cut-off date for consideration.) Categories are Book of the Year, recognizing a novel or nonfiction full-length work; […]
December Read of the Month: “The Miniaturist’s Assistant” by Katherine Scott Crawford
December 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: SLR has two Reads of the Month for December. We think you will love both books. In The Miniaturist’s Assistant, Katherine Scott Crawford would, for a moment, like you to believe that Charleston, South Carolina, is a town like any other town. If you’ve ever been to Charleston, you know that is simply […]
December Read of the Month: “Junah at the End of the World” by Dan Leach
December 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s note: SLR has two Reads of the Month for December. We think you will love both books. You won’t find a more huggable narrator than twelve-year-old Junah, the unforgettable protagonist of Junah at the End of the World by Dan Leach. His voice—funny, irreverent, and deeply original—calls to mind Holden Caulfield from The Catcher […]
“Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew” by James B. Wells
December 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes you have to follow your heart. Your heart sets the destination and your mind, intellect, ambition, and even your physical body may then follow. Some may call such a thing a mission, others see it as obsession, but no matter its name, James B. Wells, author of Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s […]
“Antebellum Oz” by Joseph Eldredge
December 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
An Antebellum Oz (Choice Press 2025) by Joseph Eldredge is a boldly reimagined The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in which six friends—three free siblings, three enslaved youths—on a Mississippi farm at the beginning of the Civil War find themselves uplifted in a hurricane and set down in Oz. The story is inventive, thought-provoking, and engrossing […]
Dawn Major interviews Chelsea Ragan, author of “Last Days of Paper”
December 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
We were in the middle of a pop quiz in American History when we heard the announcement of “code black” on the intercom. This drill was the first of many to come. The teacher turned off the lights and barricaded the door and we all hid under our desks in silence. The quiet was deafening. […]