Announcing the 2023 Southern Literary Review Books of the Year

The editors of Southern Literary Review select one book each year to receive special recognition. It recognizes books published between October of two years previous to October of the current year.  The Book of the Year should Be written by a Southern author or have a Southern setting. Have lasting value as part of the […]

March Read of the Month: “Atomic Family” by Ciera Horton McElroy

For a novel that begins by plunging right ahead to its grim ending—a little boy falling from a water tower—Atomic Family (Blair, 2023) still manages to build excruciating suspense by the time the story circles back to the fall. Why did the boy climb the tower? Will he survive the fall? Author Ciera Horton McElroy […]

Donna Meredith interviews Ciera Horton McElroy

Editor Donna Meredith interviews Ciera Horton McElroy, author of Atomic Family, our February Read of the Month. DM: How many years went into the writing of Atomic Family? CHM: I started the novel as a short story collection in 2014 while a sophomore at Wheaton College. The bulk of the novel writing happened during my […]