“Turning the page: Same South, new voice?” essay by Lauren K. Denton

Essay by Lauren K. Denton Writers come from everywhere, yet it seems the South produces them at a higher rate than usual. Here, we tell stories—those we make up and others that have been passed down through generations. Maybe it’s easier—or more necessary—to tell stories down South, to put fictional lives on paper to make […]

“Remembering Medgar Evers,” by Minrose Gwin

Reviewed by Chris Timmons Medgar Evers should be of interest to anyone who has examined the racial history of the United States, and of the South. It’s too bad he is now near-forgotten. Undoubtedly, general American forgetfulness has much to do with it; as far as history goes, Americans do not have much memory. Nor […]

Meet Octavia Spencer, “Minny” of The Help

Octavia Spencer, who portrays Minny in the upcoming big-screen version of The Help, took time to talk to Southern Literary Review about Stockett’s bestseller and the upcoming film.  Spencer spoke openly as an African-American southerner, confronting the controversial issue of dialect and the fine line an author must walk when giving “voice” to her characters. Do […]

July Read of the Month – The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for more than a year and has been dubbed the can’t-miss read of the summer for folks not just in the south, not even just in the States, but for readers young and old across the world. For that reason, we’ve […]