An Evening with Deesha Philyaw in conversation with Chantel Acevedo

🎟 This event is FREE and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase the night of the event! An RSVP grants general entry, but seating is not guaranteed, so please try to show up early. Please RSVP only if you intend to join us. Can't make the event? Buy your copy here.

Books & Books can accommodate up to 40 guests in our upstairs event room. Please note that the event room is accessible only by stairs.

About The Book

A revival of the iconic anthology of best Southern short stories featuring eminent and emerging voices.

This anthology marks the much-anticipated return of the annual story collection, New Stories from the South, gathering outstanding short stories written by Southern writers or about the American South. Stories were nominated by editors of literary journals and magazines, publishers of short story collections, and by prominent Southern writers who served as contributing editors for this volume.

The 2026 edition contains an exciting lineup of both well-known Southern writers and talented newcomers:

• Ron Rash
• Deesha Philyaw
• Mesha Maren
• Emily Nemens
• Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
• Tony Earley
• Exodus Oktavia Brownlow
• A. J. Bermudez
• Heather Swain
• Chelyen Davis
• Joanna Pearson
• Jody Hobbs Hesler
• Catherine Niolet
• Dean Marshall Tuck
• Emily Harper Ellis
• Farheen Raparthi
• Randy F. Nelson
• Lisa Wartenberg Vélez
• Pritha Bhattacharyya

This year’s volume has an introduction by Appalachian writer Silas House, New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, and the poetry collection All These Ghosts (Blair, 2025) and is edited by Blair’s Editorial Director, Robin Miura, who assumes this mantle from Shannon Ravenel, the Algonquin editor who launched the series and edited the volumes through 2006.

In keeping with Blair’s mission, this anthology contains a wide range of voices reflecting the rich diversity of the South. The following talented writers served as contributing editors who helped select stories for this volume: Jason Mott, LaTanya McQueen, Daniel Wallace, Monique Truong, Chantel Acevedo, and Susan Gregg Gilmore.

About The Author

Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, the LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. Deesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently at work developing TV shows based on her short fiction.

About The Moderator

Chantel Acevedo was born in Miami to Cuban parents. She is the author of The Living Infinite (Europa, 2017); A Falling Star (Carolina Wren Press, 2014); and Love and Ghost Letters (St. Martins, 2006), winner of the Latino International Book Award. Acevedo is a professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs the MFA program.