Daniel Uncapher: Stairways (Essay)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in Maine but raised in Water Valley, Mississippi, the deep south is the only place I’ll ever understand, and I still don’t know the first thing about it. “Stairways” I take the elevator to the funeral...
Judith T. Lessler: Doors and Windows (Essay/Memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I was born in Charlotte NC during WWII, lived on a failing farm in Iredell County NC, and was taken back to Charlotte. Currently, I operate an organic farm in Chatham County NC and write a weekly column...
Chris Espenshade : One Many Casting: Fishing for Blues (memoir/essay)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: From the 7th grade through college, I lived in the North Carolina Piedmont. I worked for 12 years in Atlanta, and eight years in Greensboro, NC. I respond positively to a cold Cheerwine and a side of hush puppies. One...
Gabrielle Montesanti: I Used To Run In Kalamazoo (essay)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Like Missouri, a state considered both midwestern and southern, much of my work revolves around my clashing identities. Having lived in Alaska, Michigan, and Ohio, moving to Missouri to pursue an MFA in creative nonfiction afforded me...
Stephanie Haun: Thoughts on Beauty, Bologna, and Lewis Grizzard (essay)
Thoughts on Beauty, Bologna, and Lewis Grizzard Anyone who knows me understands there are very few books or articles I haven’t read. Amongst all the scholarly and literary reading I have done, I’ll even admit to enjoying the occasional trashy...
Abigail Thomas: Good Evening (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: I lived in New Orleans for several years when I was a kid, on the campus of Tulane. I went to the R.M. Lusher School. My address was 51A Macalester Place. I loved it there. Now I live...
Susan Little: Donkeys in Paradise (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: “I was born in Memphis for the sole reason that it had the hospital closest to Earle, Arkansas. My daddy was informed of my birth via telegram, as he had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII....
Tricia Booker: The Place of Peace and Crickets (Memoir – Review)
Tricia Boooker’s: “The Place of Peace and Crickets: how adoption, heartache, and love built a family” is brutal, honest, loving and a masterpiece of a memoir. Booker goes in deep, where most of us would never dare to go,...
Deb Heinold : Local Girl Finds Glory (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Aside from spending my growing up years in Mississippi, with the crooked letter crooked letter eye crooked letter crooked letter humpback humpback eye spelling taught me in first grade, I’ve been living in South Carolina my whole...
Jay Edge : Home was a land that slid from fields (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: My name is Jay Edge and I’ve been drawing & writing ever since I remember. The one thing I remember doing before drawing and telling stories was roaming the woods behind my grandparent’s home. I’d sew a...
Terry Barr : Southern Bastards: Questioning Our Legitimacy
Southern Legitimacy Statement: As a boy in Bessemer, Alabama, I lived for Mondays for they were new comic book days. I’d head to the Stop and Shop on 4th Avenue in hopes that a new Batman, Detective, Justice League, or...
Marsha Owens: Secret Gifts (memoir)
Southern Legitimacy Statement: Born in Richmond, VA, I’ve made it my forever home. My paternal grandpa was a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay, and to this day, I’m a seafood snob. I married an ex-Amishman to whom all things Southern...
Ted Harrison: The Kincaid Boys In Search of Mistletoe (essay/memoir)
Southern Legacy Statement: Being raised in the South means you have a certain perspective on things. (Oh, I’m sure people from other parts of the country feel the same way, but stick with me here.) I have visited Washington—the state and...