Saturday, May 24

8:30 am
Opening poem by Jason McCall

Breakfast
Sponsored by Food & Wine and Southern Living

9:00 am
The Visions and Promises of Literary Publishers

Participants:

  • Paul Reyes, Virginia Quarterly Review

  • Chuck Reece, Salvation South

  • Serenity Gerbman, Chapter 16, Humanities TN

  • Leigh Anne Couch, Swing Magazine

Moderator: Katherine Webb-Hehn, Birmingham journalist

This session will include representatives from organizations, including the literary magazine VQR and the books news and review site and syndicator Chapter 16 from Humanities Tennessee. Both survive and thrive amid funding uncertainties in a shifting political climate. It will also highlight the essential work being done by newer organizations, like Salvation South, that have augmented traditional publishing activities with activism, educational programs, and other community engagement.

Interstitial One: Questions before Solutions, John T. Edge

This event was born of a group realization. Each of the three leaders is working on projects designed to benefit writers, from events that grow an audience, to a press that publishes emergent Southern voices, to a Mississippi writers residency. All have developed solutions, but had never been in a room where nonprofits and funders ask writers what they need to prosper in the decades to come. This is our attempt to ask those questions and to hear writers talk about the solutions they imagine.

10:15 am
Literature in Action

Participants

  • Bart Barton, Writing Our Stories

  • Boyce Upholt, Author, Developer Southlands

Moderator: Jacqueline Trimble, Alabama State University, Alabama Writers’ Forum

Our panelists will discuss how they help drive social change through narrative-making and truth-telling. Bart Barton will speak of the Writing Our Stories program, a partnership between the Alabama Writers Forum and the Alabama Department of Youth Services, created to give incarcerated young people the opportunity to express themselves through literature. Boyce Upholt of New Orleans, soon-to-be publisher of Southlands, will speak on his goals to create an environment-focused news gathering and storytelling organization.

Interstitial Two: State of Publishing, Meg Reid

The landscape for authors and literary organizations is complex: Costs are rising, media outlets are shuttering, the social media space is fractured, and funding is limited. Only four literary publishers in the South were funded by the NEA in 2024. Out of a total of $1.1 million, $75,000 was awarded to those efforts. This is a problem, for nearly 40% of the US population lives in the South. Support and infrastructure for literary communities here has long trailed the rest of the nation. Organizations from the South that still manage to thrive have lessons to teach about brokering equitable partnerships and developing innovative programs.

11:30 am
Building Literary Community Without Leaving Home

Participants

  • Maurice Carlos Ruffin

  • Ralph Eubanks

Moderator: Beth Ann Fennelly

This panel explores the work of writers who have chosen to pursue their literary dreams without relocating to cities outside the South. Key topics include the resources and support systems necessary to support writers, methods used to makeshift local and regional solutions, and the work required to engage and inspire the next generation of literary talent.

Interstitial Three: State of Funding, Ashley M. Jones

As a festival director, poet laureate of Alabama, and an artist looking to make half a living with her art, Ashley M. Jones has charted a new path to fund poetry. She will ask how funders can make things a little less complicated for organizers and artists. She will draw on experiences with two poetry festivals – her own in Alabama and O, Miami in FL which inspired her work — to ask how can the South better pursue funding opportunities with government agencies and charitable foundations. And how can organizers get creative to make things happen in the South?

12:45 pm
Q & A with Morning Speakers
Lunch, Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ

2:00 pm
Funders Respond

Participants

  • Chiwoniso Kaitano, MacDowell

  • Chris Guzaitis, Poetry Foundation

  • Suzette Surkamer, South Arts

Moderator: Meg Reid

Regional and national funders will address the unique challenges faced by writers in this region. Key topics include successful programs imagined and executed, obstacles past and future, and what it will take for the south to lead the nation. This panel will provide insights for funders looking to effectively support Southern writers, offering practical advice and best practices.

Closing Poem by Jason McCall

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Coffee Break with Non-Fiction Coffee

5:00 pm
Student Conversation

Student attendees will provide feedback about what they’ve heard at the convening, and also about their hopes, needs, and dreams for the South’s literary offerings.

5:30 pm
A Keynote Conversation with Crystal Wilkinson

facilitated by Tania De’Shawn

Join award-winning author Crystal Wilkinson for a conversation about her lifelong efforts to build and nurture a thriving literary community. Wilkinson will share experiences faced while fostering supportive and inclusive environments in Kentucky. Topics include founding community-aimed organizations, trends, challenges in arts funding, building sustainable partnerships and collaborations, and whatever arises in the Q&A. Local partner Thank You Books will sell Wilkinson books after the talk.