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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. More details soon.

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 22nd — 25th, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Wel­come Video 2022

Learn more about the his­to­ry Revival: Lost South­ern Voices.
Panel 1 2022
Pan­el 1 2022

Lit­er­a­ture, Art, and Music from Lost South­ern Voices
Panel 2 2022
Pan­el 2 2022

Redis­cov­er­ing Frank Yerby
Panel 3 2022
Pan­el 3 2022

“It’s Nev­er Been Over”: Gen­er­a­tional Trau­ma and the Atlanta Child Murders 
Panel 4 2022
Pan­el 4 2022

These Bones Are Not My Child: The Life and Work of Toni Cade Bambara 
Panel 5 2022
Pan­el 5 2022

The Life and Work of John Oliv­er Killens
Panel 6 2022
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
Pan­el 1 2021

Art vs. Artist: Works of Mer­it and the Con­tro­ver­sial Authors Who Wrote Them
Panel 2 2021
Pan­el 2 2021

Con­densed Careers: Poet­ry, Scan­dal, and South­ern Gothic
Panel 3 2021
Pan­el 3 2021

Unruly Women in South­ern History
Panel 4 2021
Pan­el 4 2021

Read­ing Bald­win in the Twen­ty-first Century
Panel 5 2021
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.

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