Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
Almost two decades ago, I moved to the American South to study English, and my professors introduced me to Southern Literature. Sure, there are the “classics,” but it’s the more contemporary writers that have expanded my view of the region. It’s a complex place, full of contradictions. But there are so many true stories to light the way.
Today, I’ve collected some books as just a sampling of some of the best writing from the American South that will expand your ideas of the South and its many cultures and communities.
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
Many people view the South as a monolith of tragedy and, perhaps, a place with little to offer the rest of the nation, but Imani Perry begs to differ. In South to America, Perry returns to her Southern roots, taking us with her on a journey around the history of the South, stopping in key locations to explain important events. Perry’s love of the South comes across on every page, and she argues that the South holds the heart of America, for better or worse. She celebrates Black Southerners and their contribution to America’s culture as a whole. Perry also details the region’s unique role in the history of America’s systemic racism, discussing how the slave trade impacted different parts of the South over the course of time and up to the present.
Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South by Margaret Renkl
For years, Margaret Renkl wrote newspaper columns about her life in the South, sharing her thoughts on everything from politics to cuisine. Graceland, At Last features a selection of those columns, organized by topic. I loved the chatty quality of each essay as it discussed things like current events or observations about nature. Whatever the topic, I always felt like I was sitting across from her on the porch, sipping sweet tea in the sun as she shared her thoughts with me.
Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change by Anjali Enjeti
Enjeti and her family moved to the South when she was small. Since then, she’s called the South her home. But as a mixed-race Brown girl, many people there didn’t necessarily make her feel welcome. Now as an adult, Enjeti writes about her experience with racism as well as her complicity in systemic racism. These essays feature her thoughts on feminism, the new South, gun violence, voter suppression, and so much more.
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Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
South Carolinian Dorothy Allison is one of the most well-known queer writers of her generation. She grew up in rural South Carolina, where I live now, and wrote about her childhood experience with sexual assault in a way that few writers had at the time. She was an example to so many women, giving voice to something far too many young girls have experienced. Her prose is brilliant—so many details in a single sentence. She writes about living as a queer woman working through her childhood trauma even as she came into her own as an adult. This book sits right under 100 pages but contains an overflowing wealth of wisdom from one of America’s greatest writers.
You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy Reading, Friends!
~ Kendra
English (US) · 