COME IN AND STAY AWHILE

Stories

The image shows a dramatic artistic photograph of a wooden spoon engulfed in orange and red flames against a black background, with fire trailing from both the bowl and handle of the spoon. The composition symbolically represents the intersection of chronic illness spoon theory, trauma, and Appalachian wooden spoons through its powerful visualization of a kitchen implement transformed into something both destructive and beautiful.

Spoon Theory

Morgan DePue on how good memories, childhood trauma, and chronic pain can all rest in the hollow of that wooden spoon you hold in your hand.

The Threads, Both Light and Dark, of Life in Appalachia

A review of “Those We Thought We Knew,” the fifth novel by David Joy

How to Save the Summer

When you’re putting up the bounty of the garden, it’s positively lyrical.

A Profound New Southern Book

Come with us to North Carolina to meet David Joy, the author of one of the most important Southern books you’ll read all year. And speaking of books…

Chain Lightning

A short story about an old man, a young man, the checkout line, and small things that feel like justice.

The Peacock Pilgrimage

Our Southern Reader’s Travelogue series continues with a visit to Milledgeville, Georgia, where Flannery O’Connor raised peacocks until her death at age 39. Peacocks still roam at Andalusia, and the rest of the property looks just like it did when she was writing her classic novels and stories.

Colossal Love

One about where to grow old together. Another about where to put the remains when we’re gone.

Word Efficiency

Why Will Maguire’s “Chain Lightning” is magical.

The Southern Reader’s Travelogue: Zora Neale Hurston

If you’re a Southern literature lover whose summertime reading aspirations don’t involve sand and sunburn, we have some travel ideas that don’t require sunscreen.

A Brighter, Broader South

A few words on what Salvation South has become as we approach our second anniversary.

Teach Joyfully. Then Rock.

Drs. Jordan and Hawley—who’ve covered teaching with our editor for a decade—tell a story that belies the negative view of public-school teachers.

The Mema Poems

From North Georgia come two verses to honor a mountain matriarch, a woman of courage, who does what needs to be done.

Sand Dollar

Forty-five years in, Sherry’s life doesn’t amount to much. But then, she meets a pair of sisters almost twice her age who could redeem her. Except…