The Fall 2024 edition of the Oxford American celebrates the gritty, absurd, and deeply human experiences that define the South and the stories we tell about it. 

With a lineup of short fiction, poems, and narrative nonfiction from both new and established writers, the latest entry in our ongoing “Southern Lit” series seeks to explore and expand the boundaries of narrative-making in our region. 

Issue #126 features an intimate account of a fateful meeting with the late fiction writer and poet Ellen Gilchrist by James McWilliams; debut fiction from Kevin Wranovix and Josie Tolin; a conversation about visual storytelling between OA Art Editor Alyssa Ortega Coppelman and Texas painter RF. Alvarez; a ghost story by National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed; plus more work that tackles loneliness and legacy, lost innocence and chance encounters.

The Southern Lit Issue is full of new stories that resonate and linger, resulting in an edition that simultaneously showcases and interrogates our brilliant, complex, always-changing literary landscape.

Pre-orders of the Southern Lit Issue will ship in mid-August, and the issue will become available on select newsstands on September 3rd, 2024.