North Carolina Is Haunted by Its Own History in “The Devil’s Done Come Back”

Ghosts seem to know better about who we are and what is right in “The Devil’s Done Come Back”

Read More

Propelling into the “Weird South” with Melanie Benson Taylor’s New Collection on Postplantation Literature

A review of Melanie Benson Taylor’s “The Weird South: Ecologies of Unknowing in Postplantation Literature.”

Read More

“World Without End” Unveils a World with Hope (Still)

A review of Martha Park’s essay collection, “World Without End: Essays on Apocalypse and After.”

Read More

Two Hurricanes: Family Secrets Surface in the Wake of Katrina in “Behind the Waterline”

In New Orleans, floodwaters don’t just expose pipes and studs inside of walls — they can expose family secrets, too.

Read More

“Swamp”: A Historical Novel Full of Symbolism, Metaphor

The persona of Benito Juárez, revolutionary and first president of Mexico, transports readers to pre-Civil War New Orleans in this tale of bear fights, murders, infatuation, and yellow fever.

Read More

“Nola Face”: A Bold and ‘Buggy’ Debut

The New Orleans literary landscape is rich, but Brooke Champagne’s memoir fills a gap in the Big Easy canon.

Read More

Michael Odom Explores the “Southern Strategies” of Evangelical Christianity-Informed Society and Power

To answer the resounding “How did we get here?” question focused on our current political, and even existential, functioning as a country, Michael Odom offers Southern Strategies: Narrative Negotiations in an Evangelical Region. The book offers an exploration of religion’s role in how the evangelical movement has shifted in its power and perspective attempts to…

Read More

Keagan LeJeune Explores the Cajun Beauty of “Finding Myself Lost in Louisiana”

Just like this place, LeJeune offers no easy answers. Louisiana doesn’t define you. And you definitely don’t define it. There is only ever the scenic byway, where the bayou connects, or the high ground of the next chenier.

Read More