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45 New Books from the American South
The American South has produced some Hall of Fame literary superstars: William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Harper Lee, Wendell Berry. And it’s a tradition that continues in contemporary writing.
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Collected below are 45 individually selected books, published since 2018, set in the South or concerning Southern themes. Bonus filter! Each of the authors listed here are also from the South themselves or have spent significant time there. Quality control! Each book has an average star rating of 3.5 stars or higher.
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When sifting for location, we’ve included all states federally defined as being in the South, even the tonal outliers like Florida and Texas. Some highlights here include Yaa Gyasi’s acclaimed novel Transcendent Kingdom,ÌýLadee Hubbard’s short story collection The Last Suspicious Holdout, and Atlanta native Eric Kim’s popular cookbook-with-stories collectionÌýKorean American.
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Double Secret Bonus Tip: The hotly anticipated of Where the Crawdads Sing, author Delia Owens� contemporary classic, hits theaters July 15, 2022.
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Scroll over the book covers below for more details on each title, and add any promising leads to your own Want to Read shelf.
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Contemporary Fiction
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Historical Fiction
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Short Story Collections
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Nonfiction
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Now it's your turn! Do you have recommendations for new books from the American South? Let us know in the comments below.
Be sure to check out more recent articles.
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Be sure to check out more recent articles.
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Comments Showing 1-21 of 21 (21 new)
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Suzanne
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Jul 07, 2022 06:19AM
The Neon Palm of Madame Melancon by Will Clarke, The Crocodile Bride by Ashleigh Bell Pedersen, The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney, Oliver by Mandy Haynes
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You mention Texas. About 40% of Texas is Latino. Maybe that should be represented, right? Living Beyond Borders: Stories About Growing Up Mexican in America by Margarita Longoria.
Great choices. I read a ton set in the South, and lived in Georgia for 16 years, and some of these were totally new to me. Thanks!
Judith Turner-Yamamoto: Loving the Dead and Gone, releases September 6!
Even IF the American South was the southern part of the USA, I don't think that books from 2018 (Where the crawdads sing, Florida) and 2019 (Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls) are still new
Since when is western Texas part of the (US) south? "Federally defined" or not, that's laughable both to west Texans and actual southerners.
Came back to check on a book and discovered they deleted our comments lmao! Do better, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.
Scythe wrote: "Even IF the American South was the southern part of the USA, I don't think that books from 2018 (Where the crawdads sing, Florida) and 2019 (Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls) are still new"I think someone is counting them as new because they were just published in paperback form. Go figure?? This is just my guess - I do not know it is actually how they got on the list. peace, janz
Yaaresse wrote: "Since when is western Texas part of the (US) south? "Federally defined" or not, that's laughable both to west Texans and actual southerners."As defined by the U.S. federal government, it includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Yaaresse wrote: "Since when is western Texas part of the (US) south? "Federally defined" or not, that's laughable both to west Texans and actual southerners."As defined by wikitravel.org: States = Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia & West Virginia.
Note: Texas and Florida are southern states, but are distinct regions in their own right. Oklahoma is also often considered southern, though it is on the Great Plains. Eastern and Southern Maryland have a distinctly Southern culture, as does "Slower Lower" Delaware (Kent and Sussex Counties), but the rest of these states fall firmly in the Mid-Atlantic region.
So I guess it depends on whom you ask! 😊
Night Bird Calling by Cathy Gohlke. Set in rural Appalachia on the eve of WWII. Published January 5th 2021.
The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian. Set in 1920s Mississippi swamp. Published April 6th 2021.
South of the Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber. Set in a charming small town in Alabama. Published July 21st 2020.
Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain.Set in North Carolina, 2018 & 1940. Published January 14th 2020.
Also,
The Last House on the Street by same author. Also set in North Carolina. Published January 11th 2022.
What Momma Left Behind by Cindy K. Sproles. Set in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. Published June 2nd 2020.
Tupelo by Alec Clayton "A tale told from beyond the grave by Kevin Lumpkin, youngest of a set of identical twins, Tupelo is the story of a small town in an era of reluctant change. as seen through the eyes of a white boy born to privilege who comes of age in the time of Freedom Riders, lunch counter sit-ins, civil rights marches and demonstrations."
