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.
Do you ever fall in love with a book and then wonder why you aren’t seeing more people read it? Me too! So before the new year gets into full swing with all of its latest book releases, I thought I’d share some of my favorite backlist books. And when I was putting this list together, I realized they’re all from the South, too!
We stan a Southern hidden gem.
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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, she’s able to look back and reflect on her experience with racism. At the same time, she addresses her complicity in systemic racism. She discusses ways she can embody antiracist values and fight for oppressed people in her own community and beyond. These essays feature her thoughts on feminism, the new South, gun violence, voter suppression, and so much more.
Black Folk Could Fly: Selected Writings by Randall Kenan
For most of his career, Randall Kenan was described as a “writer’s writer,” a writer who isn’t necessarily widely loved by the general public, per se, but people in his field really respect and admire his work. But shortly after Kenan died in 2020, his short story collection, If I Had Two Wings, was longlisted for the National Book Award. Its reception introduced Kenan’s work to a whole new audience.
Black Folk Could Fly is a posthumous collection of nonfiction works from throughout his career. In it, he writes about his childhood in rural North Carolina, his move to New York City to work on his writing career, and his travels around the country to interview Black people about their experiences. Kenan was always pondering: What does it mean to be Black in America today? Through his writing, we can observe the progression of his thought process as he considers this question and reads the works of other Black writers on the topic.
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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 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.
Allison writes about living as a queer woman, working through her childhood trauma even as she came into her own as an adult. This book, which is under 100 pages, 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) · 