Southern Review of Books

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Southern Review of Books

Exploring contemporary literature of the American South and beyond. Published by .

07/02/2025

"Taylor depicts a South haunted by its own history. For it to exist, the oppression of people, as well as flora and fauna, was instituted. The weird occurs when the ghosts of this past slip into the present, not only to haunt it, but to live alongside it."

New review of THE WEIRD SOUTH by Melanie Benson Taylor. University of Georgia Press

A review of Melanie Benson Taylor’s “The Weird South: Ecologies of Unknowing in Postplantation Literature.”

07/01/2025

“Femininity becomes a double-edged sword without a hilt in these scenes. However, as she panders to men for tips or kisses or validation or excitement, the poet also lambasts herself with the same blade. After all, who is more foolish? The fool or the woman who knowingly follows him?”

New review of LADY SMITH by Jess Smith. University of Akron Press

A review of Jess Smith’s poetry collection, “Lady Smith.”

06/30/2025

"After a while, Eric's voice became so prominent, I removed all of Ruth’s narration, and decided to tell the entire story through his voice. That was a hard decision. I remember crying. I literally grieved Ruth’s narration, but to be true to her character, I had to lose her narrative voice."

Read more about the making of BEHIND THE WATERLINE in this interview with Kionna Walker LeMalle and Bradley Sides!

In this interview, Kionna Walker LeMalle shares the experience and magic behind her debut novel.

06/25/2025

“In the novel, food, passed down and shared between generations, transcends mere flavor and imbues memory, identity, and therapeutic effects, a magical extension of our own world where food carries culture and context with it.”

New review of MY MOTHER CURSED MY NAME by Anamely Salgado Reyes. Atria Books

Set in a small Texas town near the U.S.-Mexico border, this debut magical realism novel follows Olvido, Angustias, and Felicitas as they reunite for Olvido’s funeral.

06/24/2025

SRB editor Jennette Holzworth writes about seven books that resonate with her because they allow readers to "step inside the mind of another and find comfort and camaraderie and to develop empathy for those with a lived experience different than our own."

SRB Editor Jennette Holzworth talks about seven books that offer readers an opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes.

06/23/2025

Check out the very first edition of our Southern Summer Book Club with Bradley Sides! We hope you’ve already heard a lot about Kionna Walker LeMalle’s Behind the Waterline, but if not, hopefully this book club discussion will pique your interest!

The first edition of The Southern Summer Book Club with Bradley Sides focusing on Kionna Walker LeMalle’s novel, “Behind the Waterline.”

06/18/2025

“The South Fayne conjures is not merely a place but a metaphysical terrain: ghosted, burning, holy. Water is everywhere — oceans, floods, tears — and so is fire. The Devil Three Times joins a powerful tradition of Southern literature that acknowledges the land itself as witness and participant in the nation’s original sins.”

Check out this review of THE DEVIL THREE TIMES by Rickey Faye. Little, Brown and Company

A review of Rickey Fayne’s debut novel “The Devil Three”

06/17/2025

“The collection thrives on small, finely drawn moments and reads like a realization of the word sonder — each character an ordinary everyperson with depth, ache and secrets.”

New review of BINGO BANGO BOINGO by Alan Michael Parker. Dzanc Books

A review of Alan Michael Parker’s latest story collection.

06/13/2025

Happy Pride, y’all! In this month's roundup, EIC Chelsea Risley says: "I hope you’re celebrating and finding joy and community this month, but also taking a hard look at the world around us. I hope you’re getting involved and fighting for a better world in whatever ways feel right to you."

Reading can be rest, resistance, and celebration all at once, so if you’re looking to add to your Pride month activities, here’s a non-exhaustive list of LGBTQ+ Southern books published in the first half of 2025.

Celebrate Pride by reading one of the q***r Southern fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books published in the first half of 2025.

06/11/2025

"Observant, angry, and questioning... these poems boldly examine the knotted issues surrounding identity and womanhood in an America quickly tipping backwards. Direct and darkly humored, MY HERESIES is a necessary arrival in contemporary poetry."

New review of Alina Stefanescu's MY HERESIES. Sarabande

Alina Stefanescu’s new collection of poetry, “My Heresies,” is an entirely new feminist text in its own right. Observant, angry, and questioning, Stefanescu’s poems guide readers throug…

06/10/2025

If you haven't watched Ryan Coogler's SINNERS yet, let this post be your sign!

But first, check out EJ Batiste's review: "Here lies a narrative of cultural preservation and resilience; this is evident in the juke joint musical scene, where there is a full expression of Black culture. The blues serve as the narrative and the dialogue drives home the point of persistence and cultural significance."

A review of the film “Sinners,” written and directed by Ryan Coogler.

06/09/2025

In the intro to his interview with author Stephani Elizondo Griest, Randal M. O'Wain says of her most recent book, "ART ABOVE EVERYTHING blends history, cultural criticism, journalism, and memoir to create a spellbinding narrative that is so full of love for life and curiosity that I am left breathless." Beacon Press

A conversation with Stephanie Elizondo Griest, author of “Art Above Everything.”

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