Revival: Lost Southern Voices

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es, a fes­ti­val for read­ers, cel­e­brates his­tor­i­cal­ly exclud­ed, erased, or mar­gin­al­ized South­ern voic­es. Dur­ing this annu­al con­fer­ence, invit­ed pre­sen­ters dis­cuss South­ern authors or artists whose works are out-of-print or oth­er­wise do not receive the atten­tion they deserve. We invite the pub­lic, schol­ars, stu­dents, writ­ers, and inquis­i­tive read­ers to join the con­ver­sa­tion as we con­tin­ue to dis­cov­er and revive these Lost South­ern Voices.

Learn more about the ori­gin of this fes­ti­val for read­ers here.

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2026 (10 year anniversary)

Mark your cal­en­dars! Join us March 19 – 21, 2026, for a tenth anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion of the Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es Fes­ti­val. See the full sched­ule, along with links to reg­is­ter, below. View the full pro­gram for this festival.

RLSV 2026 Schedule

Thurs­day, March 19
Keynote: 7:00 p.m.
Shin­ing a Light in the Dun­geon: Hon­or­ing Unap­pre­ci­at­ed Voic­es in the Hip Hop South
Regi­na Bradley in con­ver­sa­tion with Mon­i­ca Weath­er­ly
Fol­lowed by a light reception

Reg­is­ter for the Keynote here.

Fri­day, March 20
Pan­el 1: 1:00 p.m. ET
A Revival in Sto­ries: The Craft of South­ern His­tor­i­cal Fic­tion

Car­olyn Cur­ry
Tony Grooms
Mod­er­at­ed by Jes­si­ca Handler

Reg­is­ter for Pan­el 1 here.

Pan­el 2: 3:00 p.m. ET
Lost Chero­kee Voic­es

Vivian Mary Car­roll
Don­na Cof­fey Lit­tle
Mod­er­at­ed by Jeff Bishop

Reg­is­ter for Pan­el 2 here.

Sat­ur­day, March 21
Pan­el 3: 1:00 p.m. ET
His­tor­i­cal Recipes: Pre­serv­ing Geor­gia’s Food­ways and Sto­ries

Valerie Frey in con­ver­sa­tion with Gina Flowers

Reg­is­ter for Pan­el 3 here.

Pan­el 4: 3:00 p.m. ET
Beyond Bars: Cel­e­brat­ing Incar­cer­at­ed Voic­es through Cre­ative Writ­ing Cours­es

Nel­lie Cox
Cameron Ervin 
Beth Gylys
Kather­ine Per­ry
Mod­er­at­ed by: Andy Rogers

Reg­is­ter for Pan­el 4 here.

Read the full pro­gram for more information.

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2025

The 2025 con­fer­ence was held March 20— 22, 2025, and con­sist­ed in-per­­son (but record­ed) pan­els. View the pro­gram for the fes­ti­val here.

RSLV 2025 — Keynote: A Con­ver­sa­tion with Mab Seg­rest and E.R. Ander­son in Cel­e­bra­tion of the Life and Work of Dorothy Allison

Enjoy ​“A Con­ver­sa­tion with Mab Seg­rest and E.R. Ander­son in Cel­e­bra­tion of the Life and Work of Dorothy Alli­son” from RLSV 2025

RLSV 2025 — Pan­el 1: Cel­e­brat­ing the Life and Work of Tina McEl­roy Ansa

Enjoy ​“Cel­e­brat­ing the Life and Work of Tina McEl­roy Ansa” from RLSV 2025.

RLSV 2025 — Pan­el 2: What We See When We Read Chil­dren’s Books

Enjoy ​“What We See When We Read Chil­dren’s Books” from RLSV 2025.

RLSV 2025 — Pan­el 3: Thomas Mer­ton: A Bridge between Two Worlds

Enjoy ​“Thomas Mer­ton: A Bridge between Two Worlds” from RLSV 2025.

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2024

The 2024 con­fer­ence was held March 21 — 23, 2024, and con­sist­ed of vir­tu­al and in-per­son (but live-streamed) pan­els. View the pro­gram for the fes­ti­val here.

RLSV 2024 Pan­el 1 — South­ern Edu­ca­tors, Authors, and Activists: Select­ed Writ­ings of McClel­lan, Gaines, and Moody

Enjoy ​“South­ern Edu­ca­tors, Authors, and Activists: Select­ed Writ­ings of McClel­lan, Gaines, and Moody” from RLSV 2024.

RLSV 2024 Pan­el 2 — The Lyri­cal South: Poet­ry, Blues, and Children’s Literature

Enjoy ​“The Lyri­cal South: Poet­ry, Blues, and Children’s Lit­er­a­ture” from RLSV 2024.

RLSV 2024 Pan­el 3 — Geor­gia Poets Lau­re­ate Through the Years

Enjoy ​“Geor­gia Poets Lau­re­ate Through the Years” from RLSV 2024.

RLSV 2024 Pan­el 4 — Home­ward Bound: The Lega­cy of Thomas Wolfe

Enjoy ​“Home­ward Bound: The Lega­cy of Thomas Wolfe” from RLSV 2024.

RLSV 2024 Pan­el 5 — Sanko­fa Ser­e­nade: Remem­ber­ing the Words and Works of Maud Cuney Hare

Enjoy ​“Sanko­fa Ser­e­nade: Remem­ber­ing the Words and Works of Maud Cuney Hare” from RLSV 2024.

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023

The 2023 con­fer­ence was held March 22^nd — 25^th, 2023, and con­sist­ed of vir­tu­al and in-per­son (but live-streamed) pan­els. View the pro­gram for the fes­ti­val here.

RLSV 2023 Keynote fea­tur­ing Dr. Maryem­ma Gra­ham in con­ver­sa­tion with Dr. Pearl McHaney

Enjoy the Keynote from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023, fea­tur­ing Dr. Maryem­ma Gra­ham in con­ver­sa­tion with Dr. Pearl McHaney.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 1 — Appalachi­an Flood­wa­ters: Lost Voic­es, Dialects, and Places

Enjoy ​“Appalachi­an Flood­wa­ters: Lost Voic­es, Dialects, and Places” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 2 — Diverg­ing South­ern Roads: Lost Voic­es in Verse

Enjoy ​“Diverg­ing South­ern Roads: Lost Voic­es in Verse” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 3 — Voic­es of the Amer­i­can and Glob­al South

Enjoy ​“Voic­es of the Amer­i­can and Glob­al South” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 4 — Ten­nessee-born Writ­ers and the South

Enjoy ​“Ten­nessee-born Writ­ers and the South” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 5 — The Lit­er­ary Land­scape of Author/​Artist William Gay

Enjoy ​“The Lit­er­ary Land­scape of Author/​Artist William Gay: A Con­ver­sa­tion with Team William Gay” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

RLSV 2023 Pan­el 6 — Claim­ing ​“Our Own Lit­er­ary Ances­tors”: Hon­or­ing Our Mentors

Enjoy ​“Claim­ing ​‘Our Own Lit­er­ary Ances­tors’: Hon­or­ing Our Men­tors” from Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023.

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2022

The 2022 con­fer­ence was held vir­tu­al­ly. View each of the pan­els below!

Wel­come Video 2022

Learn more about the his­to­ry Revival: Lost South­ern Voices.

Pan­el 1 2022

Lit­er­a­ture, Art, and Music from Lost South­ern Voices

Pan­el 2 2022

Redis­cov­er­ing Frank Yerby

Pan­el 3 2022

“It’s Nev­er Been Over”: Gen­er­a­tional Trau­ma and the Atlanta Child Murders 

Pan­el 4 2022

These Bones Are Not My Child: The Life and Work of Toni Cade Bambara 

Pan­el 5 2022

The Life and Work of John Oliv­er Killens

Pan­el 6 2022

The Day Atlanta Stood Still: Atlanta and The Lega­cy of the Orly Plane Crash

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2021

The 2021 con­fer­ence was held vir­tu­al­ly. View each of the pan­els below!

Pan­el 1 2021

Art vs. Artist: Works of Mer­it and the Con­tro­ver­sial Authors Who Wrote Them

Pan­el 2 2021

Con­densed Careers: Poet­ry, Scan­dal, and South­ern Gothic

Pan­el 3 2021

Unruly Women in South­ern History

Pan­el 4 2021

Read­ing Bald­win in the Twen­ty-first Century

Pan­el 5 2021

Reck­on­ing with the South through­out the Twen­ti­eth Century

Fol­low Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es on Social Media

Fol­low us on Twit­ter @RevivalLost

Fol­low us on Insta­gram @RevivalLSV

Fol­low us on Face­book @RevivalLostSouthernVoices

Sign up for our newslet­ters to receive updates about next year’s fes­ti­val here.

View the old web­site for this fes­ti­val here to learn more about past fea­tured lost voic­es and presenters.