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 2024

Full Sched­ule

*This year’s fes­ti­val is over. Thank you to all who joined us! Stay tuned for the links to the record­ed ses­sions. Check out the full pro­gram for the fes­ti­val here. If you attend­ed, please let us know what you thought by tak­ing this brief sur­vey.

Thurs­day, March 21, 2024 (Fourth Floor, Decatur Library Only)

Keynote, 7 p.m. — North­side Tav­ern: The Most­ly True Account of the Gold­en Age of Atlanta’s Most Exquis­ite Blues Dive Screen­ing and Q & A

With an intro­duc­tion and Q & A by Con­sult­ing Pro­duc­er Ter­ri Capote

Fri­day, March 22, 2024 (Zoom Webi­nar Only)

Pan­el 1, 10 a.m — South­ern Edu­ca­tors, Authors, and Activists: Select­ed Writ­ings of McClel­lan, Gaines, and Moody

Peter Schmidt presents George Mar­i­on McClellan

Matthew Teutsch presents Ernest J. Gaines’ Of Love and Dust

Stephane Dunn presents Essie Mae Moody

Mod­er­at­ed by Jen­nifer Colatosti

Pan­el 2, 1 p.m. — The Lyri­cal South: Poet­ry, Blues, and Children’s Literature

Eli Arnold presents Daniel White­head Hicky

Jim O’Lough­lin presents Eddie Bowles

Aleshia Showen O’Neal presents Char­lie May Simon

Mod­er­at­ed by Ali­son Law

Pan­el 3, 3 p.m. — Geor­gia Poets Lau­re­ate Through the Years

Jim Clark presents Bet­tie Sellers

William Walsh presents David Bottoms

Mod­er­at­ed by Mon­i­ca Weatherly

Sat­ur­day, March 23, 2024 (Fourth Floor, Decatur Library & Zoom Webinar)

*With brief open­ing remarks by Dr. Pearl McHaney, co-founder of RLSV

Pan­el 4, 1 p.m. — Home­ward Bound: The Lega­cy of Thomas Wolfe

Rose­mary D. Cox presents Thomas Wolfe

Tim Tark­ing­ton presents Thomas Wolfe

Ted Wadley presents Thomas Wolfe

Mod­er­at­ed by Andy Rogers

*Cof­fee Break with South­ern Snacks

Pan­el 5, 3 p.m. — Sanko­fa Ser­e­nade: Remem­ber­ing the Words and Works of Maud Cuney Hare

Jené Wat­son presents Maud Cuney Hare

Mod­er­at­ed by Janell Walden-Agyeman

Fea­tur­ing Cre­ole folk songs arranged by Maud Cuney Hare

Revival: Lost South­ern Voic­es 2023

The 2023 con­fer­ence was held March 22 — 25, 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.