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Stories

Virginia poet Sharon Ackerman's Appalachian verses capture Carolina wrens, bloodwort meadows, and climate change in evocative poetry that bridges generations and landscapes.

The Berry Behind the Brambles

Ackerman’s verses—rich in the landscapes of the Blue Ridge—bridge our generations, from a rickety shelf stacked with jelly jars to climate-anxious meadows.

Let No One Turn You Around

The last thing her conservative Carolina parents wanted was to see their daughter fight for civil rights. The music made her do it anyway.

The Eden Drive-In

Two by two they go into the ark of a soft summer night.

A Stranger Goes on a Journey

Coming from Louisiana and working in Germany, an anthropologist calls both places home—and so must reckon with two dark histories.

You Should Be Taking Notes

A posthumous collection of stories from Mississippi’s Brad Watson, who left a legacy of beautiful fiction, is just out. Alabama novelist Caleb Johnson, a student of Watson’s, has this remembrance.

Best Buddies

Some things we can let go of. Other things we can stash in the bottom drawer. But the best things can stay in your heart forever.

Sit Down and Rest a Little While

Salvation South will be on vacation for a couple of weeks. Our next batch of new stories is set for July 21.

Window Splat

Cleaning insect innards off his mother’s windshield was this ecologist’s childhood chore of choice. Pesticides and climate change had mostly negated the need to scrape bugs—until the Great Southern Brood of cicadas descended this May.

Before the Blue of Devastation

From Georgia by way of Brooklyn, three poems weaving pleasure, wholeness, and spirits.

Grace Beyond Her Ability

Sherri McCoy’s service to the unhoused people of Atlanta is an exercise in radical selflessness.

Who Fights for You?

Maddie Stambler’s first short documentary tells the story of a lifelong friendship. Some might call her bond with her subject “unlikely.” Maddie calls it transformational.

Two Cultures, One Filmmaker

She grew up in a bicultural family with deep roots in South Carolina. The product of two rich storytelling traditions, she now captures on film the dualities of the South—and of her own life story.

Far Beyond the Visible

Three poets from Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia offer visions of their fathers.