Southern Review of Books
@southrevbooks.bsky.social
Exploring contemporary literature of the American South & beyond. Published by Queens University of Charlotte MFA. Editor-in-chief @crisley.bsky.social, founding editor Adam Morgan. linktr.ee/southrevbooks
"Wymer’s poems are for readers who want to know the truth — liberating, crushing, and sobering — about one of the most maligned regions of the United States." New review of LET THE FOREST GO by Justin Wymer.
A Poet Longs for Another Home, Another Body, in “Let the Forest Go”
A review of Justin Wymer’s poetry collection, “Let the Forest Go.”
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Our last book club of the year features SLOW FIRE, a short story collection by Spencer K. Brown out from Loblolly Press. Don't forget, if you'd like to submit a question for Spencer, leave it in the comments here or you can always email editors@southernreviewofbooks.com. We'd love to hear from you!
The Southern Summer Book Club: August
The third installment of our Southern Summer Book Club features Spencer K.M. Brown’s “Slow Fire.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
We can't believe it's the end of July already! We hope you've eaten at least one BLT with a garden-fresh tomato and gotten all your summer reading done so you can pick up one of these July releases to read next!
The Best Southern Books of July 2026
Check out this non-exhaustive list of the best Southern books of July 2026.
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Check out our brand new interview with Meg Richardson on growing up, Florida, and her new novel, PARADISE PAWN! @tinhouse.bsky.social
The Funny, Messy Business of Growing Up: An Interview with Meg Richardson
From teenage friendship and class inequality to comedy and the long road to publication, Richardson reflects on the ideas and experiences that shaped Paradise Pawn.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Though it does feel as if Fights! presents real events, it does not read like a memoir. As is the case with other McClanahan narrators, the line between this narrator and the real Scott McClanahan is vanishingly thin." New review of Scott McClanahan's FIGHTS!
How to Write Directions to Your Own Grave: “Fights!” by Scott McClanahan
A review of Scott McClanahan’s newest book, “Fights!”
southernreviewofbooks.com
In the second interview for this year's Southern Summer Book Club, Tommy Hays and Bradley Sides talk all things character building and THE MARRIAGE BED at the link in bio. @blairpub.bsky.social
The Southern Summer Book Club: Tommy Hays
Check out the second installment of the 2026 Southern Summer Book Club with Bradley Sides and Tommy Hays!
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Haber is more empathetic toward his ridiculous tyrant than you’d expect, and that’s what moves the story from a stylistic exercise and absurdist concoction toward an unexpected end that moved me." New review of ADA by Mark Haber. @coffeehousepress.bsky.social
A Mad King Awaits His Lady Love in the Absurdist “Ada”
A review of Mark Haber’s novel “Ava.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
“The propulsive element of this book is the resilience of its characters. Each is in the act of saving something — or at least figuring out what’s worth saving.” @tobyleblancauthor.bsky.social reviews SHOULD THE WATERS TAKE US by Stephanie Soileau. @doubledaybooks.bsky.social
Loss Shapes the Characters in “Should the Waters Take Us”
Stephanie Soileau’s new novel, “Should the Waters Take Us,” is an all-encompassing epoch that spans generations, geography, and even climate.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Chapman understands the strengths of the visual medium and how to best operate within the constraints of the form, taking advantage of a comic’s ability to expand and compress time in a way prose alone could never do." New review of THE PASS by Katriona Chapman. @fantagraphics.bsky.social
Katriona Chapman’s “The Pass” is a Sizzling Hot, Character-Driven Graphic Novel
A review of Katriona Chapman’s newest graphic novel, “The Pass.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Fulfillment drops readers directly into the political, class, and economic divides wrenching America apart, unspooled through a story about two half-brothers from a family with deep roots in Kentucky." New review of FULFILLMENT by Lee Cole, now out in paperback. @aaknopf.bsky.social
Questioning Who’s Allowed to Dream in “Fulfillment”
Lee Cole’s sophomore novel, “Fulfillment,” drops readers directly into the political, class, and economic divides wrenching America apart, unspooled through a story about two half-broth…
southernreviewofbooks.com
Check out our brand new interview with @ctsalazar.bsky.social and Angela Ball on STEEPLECHASE. @upittpress.bsky.social southernreviewofbooks.com/2026/07/06/s...
July's book club pick is THE MARRIAGE BED by Tommy Hays! Bradley Sides says it's "a rich, wise, and affecting novel that handles the topic of grief just right." If you have a question you'd like Tommy to answer in our video interview later this month, drop it in the comments!
Southern Summer Book Club: July
Part two of The Southern Summer Book Club with Bradley Sides focusing on “The Marriage Bed” by Tommy Hays.
southernreviewofbooks.com
“Through its very title, Erase Genesis is a manifesto. It is ecofeminist. It marks the genesis of a form that does not shy away from the taboo of marking the unmarkable, or muting the immutable, or humbling the divine.” New review of ERASE GENESIS by Rebecca Gayle Howell.
An Ecofeminist Genesis, Painted Over and Made New
To dominate is intimacy’s opposite in Rebecca Gayle Howell’s “Erase Genesis.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
"From Dorothy, who Hough meets in line for beignets at Café du Monde in New Orleans to Wayne, a proselytizing hitchhiker, she is consistently met with warmth and kindness." New review of Lauren Hough's MONSTER OF A LAND. @pantheonbooks.bsky.social
“Monster of a Land”: Warmth and Honesty Across America
A review of Lauren Hough’s new memoir, “Monster of a Land.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
Wrap up Pride month with a new queer Southern book from the first half of the year!
Books to Celebrate in June 2026
Celebrate Pride by reading one of the queer Southern fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books published in the first half of the year.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Confronting the ways that colonization & white supremacy have affected Appalachia will allow all of us to 'rewrite the narrative, not just for Appalachia, but for all communities impacted by the forces of exploitation & abuse.'" Review of Davis' MONEY IN THE MOUNTAINS. @plutopress.bsky.social
A Manifesto for Collective Healing in Appalachia
Rayelle Davis’ Money in the Mountains: The Cultural Trauma of Appalachia makes a clear, compelling argument: “Generational trauma and poverty aren’t the problems in Appalachia. They are the symptom…
southernreviewofbooks.com
In this interview for our Southern Summer Book Club, Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Bradley Sides talk all things poetry and NIGHT OWL.
The Southern Summer Book Club: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Check out the first video interview in our 2026 Southern Summer Book Club with Bradley Sides and Aimee Nezhukumatathil!
southernreviewofbooks.com
"The collection of essays explores the rainbow of ways, as professor Psyche Williams-Forson put it, gas station eateries in different Southern locations serve as 'critical daily infrastructure' for millions of Americans." New review of GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT. @lsupress.bsky.social
The Overlooked World of Southern Gas Station Food
Roadside eateries function as unlikely archives of Southern community, migration, and cultural change in “Get It While It’s Hot.”
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"Cynicism would have been the easy route, but what Bond offers is more layered and resonant; he takes hope, 'whatever you are when you’re not alone anymore,' at its word." @seanseanclan.bsky.social reviews HOPE HOUSE by Joe Bond. @hubcitypress.bsky.social
Second Chances, Growth and Tenderness in “Hope House”
Joe Bond’s “Hope House” is a thoroughly human story told with grace, humor, and tenderness.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"O’Donnell and Honeycutt show how every protected old-growth forest is an exception, a product of a single person or group’s decision that a forest was worth protecting from a clear cut." New review of WOODLANDS OF THE MIND by O'Donnell and Honeycutt. @ugapress.bsky.social
Penalties and Perks of an Ecological Education in “Woodlands of the Mind”
“Woodlands of the Mind” explores fifteen hidden university forests and the fragile histories that allow them to endure.
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Hot off the press: An interview with SRB editor @amyrmartin.bsky.social and Lauren Osborn on ENTOMOLOGY OF THE PIN-UP GIRL!
Resilient and Adaptable Women: In Conversation with Lauren Osborn
Weird is good. Everything is weird when observed through an unfamiliar lens.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Hii has the remarkable ability to touch on the loneliest parts of the human condition, while at the same time crafting lifelines to a strongly felt interconnectedness. What’s more relatable than feeling unrelatable?" New review of ENTERED SOME ALIENS by Sieww Hii. @uwiscpress.bsky.social
A Poet Longs for Home in “Entered Some Aliens”
A review of Siew Hii’s “Entered Some Aliens.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
“‘Bronchospasm’ echoes the experience it describes both visually & sonically; imagine E. E. Cummings rewriting Ada Limon’s ‘Late Summer after a Panic Attack.’ Entler’s lines & use of white space reflect the poet’s intimate knowledge of breath.” New review of Kristin Entler’s OF WATER NEVER CEASING.
“Of Water Never Ceasing” Expands Our Understanding of Pain
A review of Kristin Entler’s debut poetry collection, “Of Water Never Ceasing.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Even more so because DéLana R.A. Dameron is no longer with us, we are lucky to have this full-hearted book of proliferation and healing." New review of FAIRFIELD COUNTY by DéLana R.A. Dameron.
Horses Bring Healing and Regeneration in “Fairfield County”
DéLana R.A. Dameron’s second novel, Fairfield County, published posthumously, spans four generations of Black horsemen and -women, from 1937 to 2014.
southernreviewofbooks.com
"These poems of Reverse Requiem juice with life. They rot and seep... Cariño savors and delights in rich language and full emotions." New review of REVERSE REQUIEM by Ina Carño. @alicejamesbooks.bsky.social
The Poems in “Reverse Requiem” Juice with Life
A review of Ina Cariño’s sophomore poetry collection, “Reverse Requiem.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
"Reading Fancy Meeting You is a rollicking adventure, as tangy as a martini." @margarethutton.bsky.social reviews FANCY MEETING YOU by Louise Marburg. @blairpub.bsky.social
Growing Up by Middle Age in “Fancy Meeting You” by Louise Marburg
A review of Louise Marburg’s “Fancy Meeting You.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
"WHISTLER is a gorgeous novel about a special love and the power of stories to provide hope, help us cope, and keep us connected to what we’ve lost." @ellenbirkettmorris.bsky.social reviews Ann Patchett's newest novel, WHISTLER.
“Whistler”: A Story of Love and Impermanence
A review of Ann Patchett’s “Whistler.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
Join our Southern Summer Book Club and read NIGHT OWL by Aimee Nezhukumatathil along with us! Plus, you have a chance to participate in Bradley's conversation with the author! Your question might be featured in the video interview, so drop any questions you have for Aimee in the comments!
2026 Southern Summer Book Club Kickoff
Join us for the first book of our Southern Summer Book Club, the poetry collection “Night Owl” by Aimee Nezukumatathil.
southernreviewofbooks.com
Check out our new interview with Sarah Damoff on THE BURNING SIDE! southernreviewofbooks.com/2026/05/29/t...
Memory and Multi-Generational Impact in “The Burning Side”
An interview with Sarah Damoff on her latest novel, “The Burning Side.”
southernreviewofbooks.com
Happy pub day to Joe Bond and HOPE HOUSE! Learn more about the novel in our interview, hot off the press. @hubcitypress.bsky.social
“The Kids Are Going to Learn. Who’s Going to Teach Them?” An Interview with Joe Bond
I’ve just always thought that fiction would get me closer to the truth of that world. I didn’t want to be beholden to facts.
southernreviewofbooks.com