Books

Books
The Bullet Swallower Is a Can’t-Miss Mexican Thriller
A dynamic read draws from a writer’s family tree and dramatic folk ballads

G&G READS
Watch: John Grisham on Storylines, Writing, McConaughey
The bestselling author also discusses his new book, The Exchange, in a candid G&G Reads conversation

Books
A Look at the First Book to Collect Johnny Cash’s Song Lyrics
Like the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics is formidable and forthright. His son, John Carter Cash, reveals more about the book and his father’s writing habits

Arts & Culture
A Look Inside First Light, the “Unmistakably Austin” Bookshop in an Old Post Office
A meeting place for good books and good neighbors

Dispatches
Ron Rash’s Ghostly Inspirations
The graveyard perched over the Rash North Carolina farm has long whispered to the writer—he just needed to listen

Arts & Culture
Two New Reads that Reckon with Family History
A pair of writers hold the past—and themselves—to account

Arts & Culture
Adapting the World of Michael Farris Smith
The prolific Oxford, Mississippi, author on his two new movies, cataclysmic weather events, and being labeled Southern gothic

Food & Drink
Five Must-Try Southern Apples
Cider and heirloom apple expert Diane Flynt, author of the new Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived, shares some of her favorite varieties

Food & Drink
A Fresh Harvest of Fall Cookbooks
G&G contributors pick the food books they’re excited to devour this fall

Arts & Culture
Why John Grisham Measures Time Before and After “The Firm”
A Q&A with the author, who this fall resurrects his first big hit in a new thriller

Arts & Culture
Murder, She Wrote: Catching Up with the South’s Agatha Christie, Laura Lippman
The prolific author talks about setting her true crime novels in Baltimore, claiming her Southern identity, and how the pandemic inspired her latest caper about a prom gone wrong

Music
John Prine in His Own Words
Novelist Silas House chats with the author of the new book Prine on Prine, which collects decades’ worth of interviews with the beloved songwriter

Books
The Lasting Power of Larry McMurtry’s Not-So-Secret Texas Truths
In a new book, writers pay homage to his words. Read an exclusive excerpt here

Arts & Culture
A Guide to the South’s Best Fall Literary Festivals
Where to encounter the latest page-turners and the authors behind them

Arts & Culture
The Bold and Generous Spirit of Lee Smith
No one has tapped into Southern truths quite like the Virginia-raised author, whose fifteen novels span Appalachia to the Florida Keys. Just ask the legion of writers who praise Smith for guiding their own stories

Arts & Culture
Laughing All the Way with Writer R. Eric Thomas
The Baltimore-raised essayist, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter on being funny, a plague of frogs, and his new book about returning to his roots

Travel
How to “Get Lit” in Oxford, Mississippi
Gosh a’mighty, it’s not hard to find a toddy—or inspiration for the next great Southern novel—in this writerly college town

Arts & Culture
How an Arkansas Bookstore Preserves What Gets Left Behind in Used Books
At Dickson Street Bookshop, time capsules capture misplaced, lost, and discarded treasures

Books
Around the World in Five Southern Cookbooks
New blue-ribbon reads worth a spot in the kitchen

Arts & Culture
Southern Streaming: Pat Conroy, a Royal Romcom, and Those Soul-Crushing Florida Gators
SEC football documentaries lead August’s top series, movies, and podcasts with Southern ties