Southern Lit Presents
Perform a general Google search for authors past and present hailing from any American state below the Mason-Dixon line, and you’re bound to find a convoy of white males. Even in these supposed progressive times, it takes more digging to uncover the biographies and bibliographies of female authors, authors of color, and authors within the LGBTQ+ community. Yet their voices are as essential in representing the Southern experience as those belonging to their easily searchable counterparts.
Southern Lit Presents, a column featuring historical contributors to Southern culture who speak from and for underrepresented populations. We hope these features will expand your perception of Southern culture and deepen your love the rich history surrounding it!
Southern Lit Presents: Naomi Shihab Nye
Finding a Home in Language Naomi Shihab Nye is no stranger to the dichotomy of oscillating from one place to another while still creating a space for herself wherever she lands. Born to a Palestinian refugee father and American mother, she spent much of her life in...
Southern Lit Presents: Susan Archer Talley Weiss
Single Mother, Spy, and Seductress Women of the 19th century were often elusive, enigmatic figures, as their roles stayed confined to the walls of of the home. In the 19th century, men typically dominated the public sphere while their female counterparts remained...
Southern Lit Presents: Saeed Jones
Poetry Wears an Evening Gown Poetry never needed the delicacies of gentle, metaphorical language often associated with its genre. One poem requires only the amount of words necessary to get the point across—a point often open-ended and left up to the reader’s...
Southern Lit Presents: Yusef Komunyakaa
Southern Self-Examination Yusef Komunyakaa has a voice that drifts like steam from the surface of hot coffee on an early morning. A purposeful, presidential cadence accompanies the soft, moistened edges of his timbre, drawing listeners to the importance of his words....
Southern Lit Presents: Roxy Gordon
“Poetry Is An Indian”—An Outlaw Ghost Still Speaks Many Southerners are quick to take great pride in their potential ancestry of Native American tribes. Insert Sioux, Cherokee, or Apache here. If we try, we can visualize the images hung on the walls of some...
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