Race in Place Authors
Our special fall theme of “Race in Place” for Southern Voice is now open and accepting submissions. We are excited to have six guest authors on board to serve as “mentors” to the top three writers chosen. Get to know them and check out their websites and social media channels below.
Kimberly Brock
Kimberly Brock is the author of the award-winning modern Gothic novel The River Witch. An Amazon bestseller, the book has been featured by both national and international book clubs and included in multiple reading lists. Brock’s debut novel was also honored with the prestigious Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2013 by the Georgia Writer’s Association. In addition to working on her second novel, she runs the Tinderbox Writers Retreat on Sullivan’s Island, serves as a guest lecturer and was formerly director of festival programming for the Milton Literary Festival in her hometown of Milton, Georgia.
See her reading from The River Witch on tour in Mississippi here.
Get a “Message for Writers” from Brock here.
Follow here on Twitter here and Facebook here.
Kalisha Buckhanon
Kalisha Buckhanon is author of the novels Solemn, Conception and Upstate. Essence Magazine introduced her at age 27 as one of “Three Writers to Watch.” Since then, she has been featured in Mosaic, The Crisis, Colorlines, The Guardian, People, Entertainment Weekly, Elle and Marie Claire, as well as been a guest on NPR, BBC-London, TV-One, ID Channel and BET. She is a University of Chicago graduate with a B.A. and M.A. in English, alumna of The New School’s Writing M.F.A. and “Spirit of Writing” teacher with The Eckleburg Workshops of Johns Hopkins. The majority of her fiction work addresses race in America, and she blogs at Negression.
Follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here.
Emily Carpenter
A former actor, producer, screenwriter and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light,” Emily Carpenter was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. After graduating from Auburn University, she moved to New York City and now lives in Georgia with her family. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling Burying the Honeysuckle Girls and this year’s Southern Gothic thriller The Weight of Lies.
Follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here.
J. Drew Lanham
J. Drew Lanham is a widely published author and award-nominated poet. His first solo works, The Home Place: A Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature and book of poetry, Sparrow Envy have been met with wide acclaim. A native of Edgefield and Aiken, South Carolina, he has worked for 22 years as Clemson University faculty to understand how forest management impacts wildlife and how human beings think about nature. As a black American, he’s intrigued with how culture and ethnic prisms can bend perceptions of nature and its care. He wrote about his experiences as a black birder in The Home Place, which was named a “Natural History Book of Uncommon Distinction” by the Burroughs Society for 2016 and was most recently chosen as a 2017 Southern Book Prize winner by Authors Round the South.
Read his 9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher here.
Follow him on Twitter here and Facebook here.
M. J. Pullen
M.J. (Manda) Pullen is the author of women’s fiction and romantic comedies. Her “The Marriage Pact” series is available from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. She grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and studied English Literature and Business at the University of Georgia in Athens. She has also practiced psychotherapy and worked as an executive assistant, cashier, telemarketer, professional fundraiser and waitress. In her writing, Pullen loves creating true-to-life characters who are flawed, relatable and, most importantly, redeemable.
Get a free short story from her here.