Water imagery cascades through Yance Wyatt’s lyrical literary novel, The Watersmith, from beginning to end in both expected and very unexpected ways. Three epigraphs illustrate the religious importance of water with quotations from the Buddha, Allah, and Jesus.—totally expected use of water in a novel. So are the thunder, rainstorms, rivers, and lakes created by […]
“The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush” by Susan Gilmore
September 10, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Susan Gilmore’s The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush (Blair, 2025) opens with a funeral—for an amputated leg. A “curious” beginning, to be sure, but not a gimmick. Instead, this unusual event launches a deeply meaningful, beautifully written story about grief, guilt, community, and healing in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Through rotating third-person perspectives, Gilmore delivers a tender, […]
Read of the Month: “Prodigal” by Phyllis Gobbell
February 4, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Fireworks, fireflies, and gunfire light up Phyllis Gobbell’s exquisite, poignant novel Prodigal (Histria Fiction 2024). This modern retelling of the prodigal son is, above all, a story of love and forgiveness in a Southern family. A Baptist preacher’s son, nineteen-year-old Connor Burdette flees from his hometown of Montpier, Tennessee, after a boy he is with […]
Southern Literary Review Editor Donna Meredith interviews Phyllis Gobbell, author of “Prodigal”
February 3, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Novel Summary It’s the Fourth of July, 2000. In a small Southern town, fireworks light the sky above the City Park, while down the street a smaller flash of light changes everything for 19-year-old Connor Burdette. He has just lost the girl he loves. Now, buying beer at the Back Home Market, he becomes an […]
Southern Festival of Books Announces Virtual and In-Person Dates
May 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Tennessee’s Largest Literary Event Returns for its 33rd Year with Virtual and In-Person Programming NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Humanities Tennessee is pleased to announce that the 33rd annual Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word will take place in-person, Saturday and Sunday, October 9-10 at downtown’s War Memorial Plaza. Organizers of the event, the state’s […]
Niles Reddick Interviews River Jordan, Author of “Confessions of a Christian Mystic”
April 11, 2019 by 1 Comment
NR: River, congratulations on another wonderful release. My review was positive and it looks like from your growing list of endorsements, including Rick Bragg, Joshilyn Jackson, Southern Living, and more, that this will be successful like your previous books. To what do you attribute your success (other than your excellent writing ability)? RJ: The writing ability […]