More

Helen Ellis

Helen Ellis is a Garden & Gun contributing editor and the author of five books, including the national bestseller American Housewife and Southern Lady Code. Raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, she lives in New York City with her husband, Lex.

Am illustration of a woman with a santa hat writing a list on a stack of cards

Southern Conundrum

What does it take to get on the naughty list?

An illustration of a woman at a potluck holding a casserole dish

Southern Conundrum

Should church repasts and cul-de-sac cookouts become endangered species?

Diners eat at a checkered table

Travel

With gallery hops, restaurants serving familiar flavors, and delightful, creative shops, Helen Ellis’s favorite Big Apple experiences are rich with the comfort of the South

An illustration of a woman ina. flurry of gifts handing a present out to another woman who holds a phone out to her face

Southern Conundrum

Helen Ellis rises in defense of the handwritten letter

An illustration of a Christmas ornament–a bearded man in a dress– on top of a mess of other gifts. Two women hug in the background

Southern Conundrum

Helen Ellis explores Southern presents that go beyond the classic and expected

Dispatches

On hitchhiking, Southern manners, and taking the subway

Arts & Culture

Why everyone’s raving about the Tony-nominated musical sensation

Food & Drink

Why Alabamians love the Birmingham fast-food franchise

Food & Drink

Any way you spread it, the Southern dip appeals to the heart

Arts & Culture

A newbie gets the spirit of the season at Dolly Parton’s theme park

Home & Garden

Step inside the tinsel-gilded, garland-bedecked, glitter-frosted, champagne-soaked gumdrop-and-marshmallow world of the Savannah merrymaking maven

Home & Garden

An ode to the Southern art of holiday overdecorating

In Good Spirits

A bowl, a dipper, and a bottle of bourbon: A spirited Mississippi spin on the church-lady favorite lives up to its name

The Manual of Southern Know-How

The author and Alabama native shares the Dos and Don’ts

Why We Love the Gulf

An annual father-daughter poker trip to a Biloxi casino captures what it means to be down but not out