My cooking is what I call creative

NONFICTION
By BEEBE BARKSDALE-BRUNER
My cooking talent is what I call creative, never fixing anything the same way twice. If I have a recipe in front of me, I don’t follow it. I get ideas on shortcuts. I’ve been that way all my life. My first grade teacher, Miss Redwine, noticed I was loath to listen and… »

[parts of the spine and how they work]

NONFICTION
By ANNA GILES
[lumbar spine — “the lowest part of the spine”]
It’s your seventh grade year, and you are fidgeting in a long line in your middle school’s gym. You run your tongue over your braces; your hands are clasped in front of you as you shuffle forward. At the front of the line, you… »

Literary contest open to poetry, fiction and nonfiction

The 2010 New Southerner Literary Contest is open to previously unpublished poetry, fiction and nonfiction from April 1 through October 1. Although the contest theme is open, we are especially interested in work that relates to our mission, which is promoting self-sufficiency, environmental stewardship and local economies. We are also interested in works by writers… »

Chapter Four: The Mayor

EXCERPT
From the new nonfiction book Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?: (’Cause I Need More Room for My Plasma TV), released this spring by Zondervan Books. Click here to read the interview with Spears.
By KAREN ZACHARIAS SPEARS
A red Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner sits out underneath the Live Oak. Around the corner… »

I Dream of My Past

NONFICTION
By BOBBI DAWN RIGHTMYER
I didn’t grow up in the country, but I also didn’t grow up in a big city. My cozy hometown of Harrodsburg is basically a tourist town—the oldest settlement in Kentucky. My first memories are of the home we lived in on the outskirts of town, the last house… »

How to Save 89 Cents

*Winner, NONFICTION PRIZE

By MICHELE NIESEN

It all started innocently enough, I guess. I wanted to make an omelet. Naturally, I would have to move.
I left the city after 10 years of owning, cooking and sometimes struggling at my little bistro and wine bar in a southern suburb near Atlanta. I was done. The grit,… »

Leanin’ Back

Honorable Mention, NONFICTION PRIZE

By JENNIFER MCGAHA

My grandfather grew up in the Sandy Mush community in Buncombe County, so deep in the country that at the local church cemetery, among the fading tombstones, there is still a sign that reads, “Burial by Permission Only.” Though his paying job was at Champion International, my grandfather… »

NONFICTION

Chilaquiles

By MICHELE NIESEN

The azaleas won’t flower. I pruned them below the new growth. I think you said above. The forsythia bloomed way too early, but I haven’t killed them yet. I got exactly five tomatoes this season and they were pretty good, I guess. I can’t remember if you told me to mulch the rhododendrons… »

Common Work

NONFICTION
By DANA WILDSMITH

“As a poet, I hold the most archaic values on earth: the fertility of the soil … the common work of the tribe.”–Gary Snyder
“I think we’re neighbors. Tell me again where you live.” Kathy’s on the phone with me about some community theater business, and I’ve tried twice already to explain where I… »