Dawn Major interviews Jeffrey D. Lofton, author of “Red Clay Suzie”

Associate Editor Dawn Major recently had the opportunity to meet Jeffrey Dale Lofton at her virtual book launch for her debut novel, The Bystanders. Lofton embodies what one might imagine to be the epitome of a Southern gentleman—poised, articulate, perfect manners, and wearing a smart bowtie. It’s hard to imagine that underneath all his Southern […]

Donna Stanley Meredith interviews Dawn Major, author of “The Bystanders”

Southern Literary Review Editor Donna Meredith interviewed Associate Editor Dawn Major about her debut novel, The Bystanders. As you can see, their initials are the same. To differentiate, Donna used the initial of her maiden name Stanley, thus DSM.  DSM: So, Dawn. One of your main characters in The Bystanders, Shannon Lamb-Samples, is the ultimate […]

Dawn Major interviews Robert Gwaltney

Dawn Major has followed author Robert Gwaltney’s writing career and has been delighted to watch it grow in leaps and bounds after a very successful reception of his debut novel, The Cicada Tree. Since running into him at a fellow author reading at FoxTale Book Shop a couple of years ago, she counts him as […]

Dawn Major interviews Mary Ellen Thompson

Introduction: When Associate Editor, Dawn Major, heard that Robert Gwaltney, author of The Cicada Tree, had been selected as the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s writer in residency, she asked him to write about his experience. Gwaltney wrote a sublime piece called “Lick the Sherbet Sky,” where he kept alluding to an individual by the name […]

A Conversation on the April Read of the month: “The Bystanders” by Dawn Major

Southern Literary Review congratulates Associate Editor Dawn Major on the publication of her debut novel, The Bystanders (Mooncove Press, 2023). SLR’s Editor Donna Meredith and Associate Editor Claire Matturro discuss Dawn Major’s novel, The Bystanders.   DM: The first chapter begins with the archetype of a stranger coming to town. In this case, the strangers […]

Dawn Major interviews Gregory Ariail, author of “The Gospel of Rot”

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 […]