This issue is devoted to a deep exploration of the complicated landscape of race in the South, including critical essays, memoir, fiction, poetry, and a publisher’s forum on the subject.

“The Struggle is a literary calling to me, if not a religion. I came of age during the Black Arts Movement and will forever consider literature an act of cultural custodianship—the maintenance and monitoring of the culture through its products, trying to extract the weaknesses and illuminate the strengths.” — Arthur Rickydoc Flowers, “Raceman”

Essays by Arthur Rickydoc Flowers, ZZ Packer, Emily Bernard, Sarah M. Brown, Lolis Eric Elie, and others. Poetry by Rita Dove.