Reviewed by Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel Walt Whitman contains multitudes, and so does Salaam Green’s debut collection The Other Revival: Poems & Reckonings (Pulley Press 2025). A certified listening poet, Green put her vast skills to work at the Wallace House in Harpersville, AL as a poet-in-residence, interviewing descendants of the enslaved and […]
James and Tina Mozelle Braziel
February 16, 2026 by Leave a Comment
James and Tina Mozelle Braziel are a husband-and-wife writing team. They have received fellowships from Hot Springs National Park and Alabama State Council on the Arts. James Braziel’s book, This Ditch-Walking Love (Livingston Press), winner of the Tartt Fiction Award, tells the stories of people living on Alabama’s Cumberland Plateau. His novels Birmingham, 35 Miles (Bantam) and Snakeskin Road (Bantam) […]
“Fatulous” by Heather Ream
February 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Fatulous by Heather Ream is the sequel to her first memoir, Lunch Ladies Bought My Prom Dress. In this book, we are introduced to Heather when she is a freshman in college, and we follow her through her experiences for several years until she finally graduates. If you were a victim of, or want to […]
Ben Guest interviews Steve Suitts, author of “What’s In a Family Name: A Southern Family History Becomes a Gothic Mystery”
February 11, 2026 by Leave a Comment
SUMMARY: Steve Suitts was seventy-two years old when he tracked down his grandfather’s birth certificate and discovered his grandfather had died eighteen months before his father was born. What follows, in his new memoir, What’s In A Family Name: A Southern Family History Becomes a Gothic Mystery, is a detective story as Suitts traces his […]
“A Florida Dance: Life Stories from the Sunshine State” by Doug Alderson
February 10, 2026 by Leave a Comment
I have enjoyed all of Doug Alderson’s award-winning books, but I was truly blown away by his latest, A Florida Dance: Life Stories from the Sunshine State (Earthways Press 2026). I know Doug through Tallahassee’s writing community and consider him a friend, but the praise I’m offering here is fully earned. These stories are so […]
Ben Guest
February 10, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Ben Guest holds a PhD from the University of Mississippi and an MFA from the University of Southern California. His 2021 memoir, Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball: Memoir of a Namibian Odyssey, hit #1 on several Amazon categories. He has a weekly newsletter about writing and creativity at benbo.subtsack.com.