Oxford American

A quarterly literary magazine dedicated to exploring the complexity and vitality of the South. For more information, visit OxfordAmerican.org.

The Oxford American is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization and national magazine dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing, while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. Billed as “A Magazine of the South,” it has won four National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. The magazine has featured the original work of such

literary powerhouses as Charles Portis, Roy Blount, Jr., ZZ Packer, Donald Harington, Donna Tartt, Ernest J. Gaines, and many other distinguished authors, while also discovering and launching the most promising writers in the region. In 2007, The New York Times stated that the Oxford American “may be the liveliest literary magazine in America.” The Oxford American is committed to the development of young individuals aspiring to work in the publishing industry, and to the production and presentation of multidisciplinary arts events in and around Little Rock, Arkansas. The Oxford American is published from the University of Central Arkansas.

11/26/2024

In “Post Script,” Rachel Boillot explores the role of the postal service in rural Southern communities—including the impact of the U.S. government’s decision to close more than three thousand post offices in 2011.

See more of this 2015 Eyes On the South feature at the link below!

https://oxfordamerican.org/eyes/after-the-postal-service

11/25/2024

“Pain and grief have always been negotiated in domestic spaces, but there is also joy at the seams.”

— Tiana Clark reflects on making two Thanksgiving sweet potato pies: one that amplified her grief, and one that healed it.

Read “Loving Something Enough” from our 2021 Food issue at: https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-112-spring-2021/loving-something-enough

Photograph by Milton Carter

11/23/2024

“Just as the architects of Renaissance cathedrals used perspective and volume to concretize the omniscience and sovereignty of God, so Southern planters constructed an idyll in which their supremacy and moral right to rule were as solid as wood and mortar, building physical and psychic structures that literally and figuratively obscured the theft of millions of human lives in service to their construction and maintenance.”

—From “The House of Myth,” C. Morgan Babst’s essay on the architecture of white supremacy and an examination of the Thibodaux Massacre, a mass shooting of African-American farm workers in Louisiana in November 1887.

Read the full piece at the link below.

Photo. “A Distant View” (2003) © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-104-spring-2019/the-house-of-myth

11/23/2024

In 1887, Black sugarcane workers, resolute in their fight for a living wage, organized during the critical harvest season to leverage their limited power. On November 23, their courageous stand sparked a brutal massacre.

“History is, in part, the memories we choose to protect and reinforce, to ensure their longevity and influence. In Thibodaux’s protected memory, sugarcane has endured, plantations have endured, Confederate heroes have endured—but not the massacre.”

— from “Persons Unknown” by Rosemary Westwood, an investigation into the Thibodaux Massacre and the ways in which the descendants of the victims are fighting to memorialize their ancestors.

Read here: https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-108/persons-unknown

Photography by Nina Robinson

11/22/2024

In “Somewhere Else,” documentary photographer Kate Medley explores the cultural differences we encounter in Southern commons—democratic spaces such as rural convenience stores, gas stations, and produce stands.

View more at: https://oxfordamerican.org/eyes/democratic-spaces

11/21/2024

M. Laine Wyatt’s project “Interiors” is about public spaces and their “sort of theatre of the ordinary.” Wyatt seeks a “Pompeian quality” by photographing these places in the absence of human subjects.

View more: https://oxfordamerican.org/eyes/pompeian-quality

11/21/2024

A Mississippian journalist spends election night gambling in Atlantic City, a city with deep connections to Donald Trump's early fame

11/21/2024

Lights, Music, Macon! Experience the magic of the holidays in Macon, Georgia!

Discover the enchanting transformation of Macon, Georgia, into a winter wonderland as the holiday season approaches. The Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza is a highly-anticipated event that captivates visitors with its stunning display of thousands of lights synchronized to music, creating a memorable experience for all ages. In addition to an extended display through historic Mercer University, the cheer extends further than ever before!

Dive into the charm of Macon’s holiday spirit and start planning your visit today at visitmacon.org/lights-music-macon. ✨🎄

11/21/2024

Today, we honor the legacy of Steve Ferguson on what would have been his 76th birthday. Born in Louisville, KY, on November 21, 1948, Ferguson co-founded the original NRBQ in 1967 with a high school friend, the keyboardist, singer and songwriter Terry Adams.

“[Ferguson’s] sensibility—eccentric and eclectic, drawing on every genre of popular American music, with the equal likelihood of breaking out into a free jazz number as some soul or basic blues shuffle—remained stamped into NRBQ’s DNA.”

— Revisit Kirby Gann’s web-exclusive liner notes, “NRBQ, Steve Ferguson, and the Pursuit of the Impossible Guitar Lick,” and take another listen to the timeless “Flat Foot Flewzy” at the link below.

https://oxfordamerican.org/web-only/nrbq-steve-ferguson-and-the-pursuit-of-the-impossible-guitar-lick

Photo: Steve Ferguson with NRBQ at Thee Image - North Miami Beach, Florida (1968), via NRBQ Headquarters

11/20/2024

Time to face the music... your bookshelf is missing something.

Save BIG with 20% off our fan favorite Music Issues for a limited time only—just use code MUSIC at checkout. From jazz to juke joints, these editions hit all the right notes!
(Excludes rare issues.)

Shop now at OA Goods: oxfordamericangoods.org/collections/good-listening

11/20/2024

“When I photograph my subjects, I do not set out to construct a narrative, though each photograph ends up marking moments and landmarks from my life.”

— Armando Alvarez in “A Beautiful Dark,” from 2015. Explore more at: https://oxfordamerican.org/web-only/a-beautiful-dark

All photos by Alavarez

11/19/2024

“She told me that she sent poems to literary journals before I was born.

‘But then,’ she waved her arm, encompassing the kitchen, the house, the cosmos.”

—Kevin Wranovix crafts a delicate portrait of survival and understanding through food, books, and his mother’s deferred dreams in “A Recipe Passed Down,” a debut fiction feature from the Southern Lit issue.

Read here:
https://ow.ly/NrVT50U9tml

Kitchen Sink, 2017, a photograph by Jo Ann Chaus © The artist

11/18/2024

Tianran Qin transforms “billboards into bodies of light to enhance their existence and critique their significance in consumer culture.” Born in Beijing, China, Qin learned photography during his undergraduate study before going on to earn an MFA in Photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018.

View more at: https://oxfordamerican.org/eyes/between-structure-and-nature

11/18/2024

Let Louisiana’s music be your guide. From lively beats to soulful melodies, find your rhythm here.

Explore Your Rhythm: findyourlouisianasound.com

11/17/2024

On Friday we shared a profile of Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson in celebration of what would have been his 83rd birthday. Did you know that the Tennessee music issue also featured an essay by Dickinson himself?

Excerpted from his memoir, “The Search for Blind Lemon” is both a coming-of-age story and a vital document of American musical history told through his personal experiences: a first encounter with the Memphis Jug Band in an alley as a child, pilgrimages to find forgotten bluesmen like Blind Lemon Jefferson, and beyond.

Read the full essay at the link below.

https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-83-winter-2013/the-search-for-blind-lemon

Photo: John Fry/Ardent Studios, from “Thank You Friends : The Ardent Records Story” liner notes, 2008. Art by Lamar Sorrento.

11/16/2024

As we await the Memphis Music Issue + limited edition LP, we’ve got vinyl on our mind! 🎶

In 2014, Amanda Petrusich profiled the late Joe Bussard, one of the world’s foremost collectors of 78 rpm records. Among Bussard's collections were the ultra-rare Black Pattis, which, as Petrusich writes, “are wildly desired things, having been pressed in deliciously small quantities of one hundred or fewer each, and sold in just a handful of stores in Chicago and throughout the South.”

Read more: https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-85-summer-2014/black-patti-8030

📷 "1935 Wurlitzer P10 Open Rear" by Ken Brown, www.kenbrownart.com: Joe Bussard, 2012, Dust & Grooves: Vinyl Music Culture/Facebook

11/15/2024

“Jim liked to pontificate about ham and eggs, and how in the breakfast proposition, the chicken was involved, but the pig was committed. Jim was the Memphis ham.”

— Joe Nick Patoski, Issue 83, 2013

Behind the boards and in front of the mic, Jim Dickinson – producer, musician, and Memphis legend — embodied total commitment to the art of sound. Born on this day in 1941, Dickinson’s lifelong love affair with the studio, exploring its possibilities in the documentation and manipulation of recorded sound, shaped the sonic landscape of Memphis and beyond, inspiring generations of musicians and artists with his innovation and authenticity.

Read Patoski's full profile, “World Boogie is Coming,” online now at the link below or in your copy of the Tennessee Music issue.

Photo by Bob Bayne

https://oxfordamerican.org/magazine/issue-83-winter-2013/world-boogie-is-coming

Address

Little Rock, AR

Telephone

+15013740000

Website

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Oxford American posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Oxford American:

Videos

No Tears Project (Full Concert Cut) - Live in Jackson, MS

We’re thrilled today to share the full concert video of No Tears Project live in Jackson, MS on 9/28/24, where the band premiered The Medgar Evers Suite, written by Rodney Jordan. Thanks to Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, One Voice, and Mississippi NAACP for the partnership. We are so grateful for the support of National Park Foundation, South Arts, #JazzRoad, and Visit Jackson, MS helping make this program a success. Follow No Tears Project on Instagram @parkerhurtnotearsproject and learn more at www.notearsproject.com. Video by Alumni Broadcasting Association.

Broken Ground podcast | SELC

Check out the new season of Broken Ground, a podcast from SELC uncovering environmental stories across the rural South. From strip mines to wood-pellet mills, polluting industries are burdening small Southern towns with the hidden costs of consumption. This season heads to rural communities across our region to uncover their environmental struggles and hear the voices of the people building a better future. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or online at: https://bit.ly/4dXqPPj

🎉 Celebrating 50 years of music, culture & good times in Lafayette! 🪗 Festivals Acadiens cet Créoles 2024 📍 October 11-13th in Girard Park – Lafayette #feedyoursoul #explorelouisiana 🎉 Celebrating 50 years of music, culture & good times in Lafayette! 🪗 Festivals Acadiens cet Créoles 2024 📍 October 11-13th in Girard Park – Lafayette #feedyoursoul #explorelouisiana Learn more: festivalsacadiens.com

We Have Overcome: A Conversation on Progress and the Path Forward

We Have Overcome: A Conversation on Progress and the Path Forward, was recorded at the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument and features civil rights advocates Hezekiah Watkins, activist and the "youngest Freedom Rider;" Nsombi Lambright, executive director of One Voice and Allytra Perryman, deputy director of the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Ebony Lumumba, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Jackson State University. The panel is part of the September 2024 No Tears Project Jackson residency. Thanks to the National Park Foundation's #ParkVentures initiative; Jazz Road, a program of South Arts; Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument; Supporting Partner Visit Jackson, MS; and community partners One Voice, the Mississippi NAACP, Central Mississippi Blues Society, Mississippi Book Festival, Penguin Random House, Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church - Ridgeway St., and Jackson State University Department of Music for helping make the Jackson residency possible.

The Oxford American was pleased to partner with Gateway Arch National Park and Jazz St. Louis to present Social Change Through the Arts, a panel discussion featuring artists from the No Tears Project St. Louis concerts, including composer/pianist Christopher Parker, vocalist Kelley Hurt, saxophonist/clarinetist and President & CEO of Jazz St. Louis, Victor Goines; choreographer/dancer Ashley Tate, and singer/songwriter Brian Owens. Poet, educator, and community arts organizer Treasure Shields Redmond moderated the panel.

In 2023, dancer Ashley Tate electrified the stage at Jazz St. Louis, improvising with the No Tears Project ensemble during a stunning performance of new music and poetry by Oliver Lake. This year, we’re excited to bring the powerful experience of the No Tears Project ensemble to Jackson, MS! 📅 Join us from September 27-29, 2024, for the No Tears Project residency presented in partnership with Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Made possible by the National Park Foundation #ParkVentures program, and #JazzRoad, a national initiative of South Arts. Bring your best moves to Myrlie's Garden for a Saturday morning family-friendly sock hop and catch the world premiere of new music by Rodney Jordan that evening! Find tickets and more information at: https://oxfordamerican.org/notearsproject/jackson2024

Join the ranks of Oxford American’s music curators! We want to offer something uniquely Oxford American to our donors this year as a huge thank you for your support and for keeping the Southern stories flowing. For the month of August, your $100 donation could win you the chance to create a Memphis playlist for the 26th Annual Southern Music Issue and get your name in print. Visit OxfordAmerican.org/Give2024 to learn more and donate today!

Sixty years ago, Fannie Lou Hamer, co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), traveled to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to demand that the MFDP’s delegates, rather than the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party delegates, be seated in the convention. As the DNC opens in Chicago today ahead of the 2024 election, we recall Hamer’s legacy in the fight for voting rights, that 1964 DNC speech, and her dedication to food sovereignty and cooperative farming—a testament to her holistic vision of freedom. “Growing up a sharecropper and working under this system into her adulthood, Hamer deeply understood the consequences of this type of intergenerational economic violence,” says journalist Brittany Brown in an episode of Points South, “In the late 1960s, Hamer started a Black farm cooperative and fed and housed people in her community. She provided housing with running water and electricity, then an untapped luxury for so many poor Black workers in the Mississippi Delta.” Learn more about Hamer’s Freedom Farms at the link below: https://oxfordamerican.org/pointssouth/episodes/fannie-lou-hamer-and-the-freedom-farm Presented with support from our friends at Julia Child Foundation.

“Từ Nước (Of Water): A New Orleans Tết,” is a short film was made in conjunction with “You Always Return: Searching for Viet-Cajun in New Orleans,” a two-part episode of the Oxford American's Points South podcast. Watch chef Nini Nguyễn prepare a traditional feast for the 2023 Lunar New Year with help from her elders and fellow second-generation Vietnamese community members. You can find the full film on our Youtube channel. Special thanks to The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting the making of this film. Film credits: A film by Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill (@ma.rion.hill) Original music by Dylan Trần (@thedylantran) Community members: Chef Nini Nguyễn, VEGGI farmers’ cooperative, Chùa Bồ Đề Buddhist temple, Hong Kong Market, Sông Cái Distillery, Chú Thiện, Chú Đức.

Barry Hannah in footage shared by John Oliver Hodges, who penned an essay in memory of Hannah for our Spring 2011 Issue #72. Hannah, acclaimed novelist and short story writer, passed away on March 1, 2010. Curious for more? Dive into Hodges’ essay, “The Least Lukewarm Dude You Were Likely to Meet,” on our website. You can find the full video on our Youtube channel.

Preorder today! Our Memphis Music Issue and limited-edition vinyl pay homage to Bluff City’s enduring and evolving influence on American sound. Explore the rich history and vibrant present of Memphis music when you secure your copy today at: OxfordAmericanGoods.org/products/memphis-music-issue-1