Salvation South

Forty-six years ago, some young Southern boys watched “Smokey and the Bandit” and saw a region where the little guys could win. Were we looking at it wrong?

His mother could afford only a single Christmas gift, and he treasured it. It kept him warm. At least for a little while.

The most weathered hands hold the most profound stories.

Read this roundup of four weeks of amazing stories, poems, and films—all reasons to join the Salvation South Family Circle.

One of the finest Southern writers in history, Ron Rash, now 70, has a long talk with Salvation South about his career as a teacher, novelist, poet, and storyteller.

Tourists come to North Carolina’s Cherokee Country and buy lots of souvenirs. But they rarely connect with the essence of Cherokee culture, which lives in the people’s stories, the geography beneath their feet, and the cosmography above.

A South Carolina poet on how we leave a special place—but it never leaves us.

There isn’t one South. There are 10,000. Join us on our journey to tell the stories of them all.

Sometimes, the haircut you want is not the haircut you need.

Fiction from Mississippi’s Michael Farris Smith, verses from Ohio’s poet laureate, and a Christmas memory from Deb Bowen prove why we need your support in this membership drive.

The poet laureate of Ohio—a ninth-generation Appalachian—on holiness, the murmur of autumn trees, and the anticipation of honeysuckle.

You can give just for giving’s sake. Or you can give to fill a need. A Christmas story from coastal North Carolina.