Randy Mackin - Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature

Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature

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Randy Mackin

Porchlight Writer Events

Porchlight Writer Events

Porchlight contributor EMILY COSPER’s first collection of poetry, Witness Before the Fall, will be published this summer and is available for pre-order from Finishing Line Press. The book unfolds in the liminal space between geography and memory, between the lush, sinking streets of New Orleans and the wide landscapes

This Edition

Volume 1, Edition 7 Poetry by Alan Shapiro, Annette Sisson, Holly Hunt, Levi Southerland, and Lukas Flippo. Fiction by Cary Holladay, Adam Coulter, and Porter Yelton. Creative Non-fiction by Korina Roberts. Volume 1, Edition 6 Porchlight is proud to publish the winner and runners-up in the 2025 William Gay Memorial

Fiction by Porter Yelton

Fiction by Porter Yelton

Porter Yelton calls Chicago, Shanghai, and North Carolina home. He is a graduate of New York University and an MFA Candidate at The Ohio State University. He writes about fractured familial relationships, LGBTQ+ communities in the rural American South, and addiction. His fiction can be found in Driftwood and Apricity.

An Essay by Korina Roberts

An Essay by Korina Roberts

Korina Cole Roberts is a writer, mother, and community advocate. She earned an MA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from the University of Nebraska, Omaha, where she was awarded the John J. McKenna Graduate Fellowship in 2024. Holding deep Southern roots and now enjoying life in the Midwest, she explores themes

Fiction by Cary Holladay

Fiction by Cary Holladay

Cary Holladay lives on a farm in Virginia and teaches in Converse University's MFA program. Her awards include an O. Henry Prize and an NEA fellowship. Mrs. LeFever Two weeks into my first year of college, I became obsessed with pulses. I would swoop into a room and

Fiction by Adam Coulter

Fiction by Adam Coulter

Adam Coulter works in agriculture and is an avid reader of Southern literature. He lives in North Carolina where he enjoys traveling the mountains, photographing the disappearing Americana of back country roads. His fiction has appeared in New Plains Review, Black Fox Literary Journal, The Main Street Rag and County

Poetry by Holly Hunt

Poetry by Holly Hunt

Holly Hunt, essayist and poet, is from the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, Prairie Schooner, The Kansas City Star and Arkansas Democrat newspapers, and other journals. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas. She lives

Poetry by Lukas Flippo

Poetry by Lukas Flippo

Lukas Flippo is a writer and photographer from rural Mississippi currently living in New York City on a sabbatical from the American South. As the first person in his family to attend college, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in American Studies and Journalism. At Yale, he edited

Poetry by Levi Southerland

Poetry by Levi Southerland

Levi Southerland writes poetry from his hometown of Dickson, Tennessee. He is an American Literature teacher at Dickson County High School and a graduate student in English at Austin Peay State University. Through his writing, he is interested in exploring and capturing the complex relationships between spirituality and individuality, nostalgia

Poetry by Annette Sisson

Poetry by Annette Sisson

Annette Sisson’s poems appear in The Penn Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Rust & Moth, Cider Press Review, West Trade Review, and many other journals and anthologies. Her second book, Winter Sharp with Apples, was published by Terrapin Books (2024), and her third book manuscript, Rhizomes and Bones, was named

Poetry by Alan Shapiro

Poetry by Alan Shapiro

Alan Shapiro’s recent books are Dress Rehearsal for the Truth: essays on poetry, identity and belonging (2024); By and By, (2023), and Proceed to Check Out (2022). His new book of poems, Diver, will be published in 2026 by Unbound Editions. Festival In the first days, her “pre-morbid” body

KEN TEUTSCH, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

KEN TEUTSCH, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

Ken Teutsch is a writer, performer, and filmmaker living in central Arkansas. His stories have appeared in anthologies including Old Weird South, Strangely Funny, and Rowan Prose Publishing’s After Dark, as well as such diverse publications as Mystery Magazine, Andromedan Spaceways Magazine, and Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature.

Creative Non-Fiction by Deborah Adams

Creative Non-Fiction by Deborah Adams

Deborah Z Adams received an Agatha Award nomination for Best First Novel for the debut book in her Jesus Creek mystery series (Ballantine Books, Silver Dagger Books). Her short story “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” won the Macavity Award and earned a second Agatha nomination. Her poetry, creative non-fiction,

DANIEL REISS, William Gay Memorial Prize Winner

DANIEL REISS, William Gay Memorial Prize Winner

Originally from East Tennessee, Daniel Reiss’s work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review and Willow Springs Magazine, among other publications. Additionally, he’s been named a runner-up for AWP’s Intro to Journals Project and has received support from Sewanee Writers' Conference and the Community of Writers. He

BLAKE KINNETT, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

BLAKE KINNETT, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

Blake Kinnett is a transgender writer from Southern Kentucky, currently working toward a degree in Lincoln, Nebraska, whose work has previously appeared in Still: The Journal, The Sonora Review, and The Good Life Review. Micah’s Drowning Runner-Up, William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story, 2025 My mother sent me

Poetry by Gary Carter

Poetry by Gary Carter

Gary Carter’s latest novels are Not Dark Yet and Snake Bit. Based in North Carolina, his poetry and short fiction have appeared in Nashville Review, Sky Island Journal, Deep South Magazine, Real South/West, Steel Toe Review, Santa Barbara Literary Journal, Dead Mule, Delta Poetry Review, and Main Street

Poetry by Peter Schmitt

Poetry by Peter Schmitt

Peter Schmitt is the author of six collections of poems, including Goodbye, Apostrophe (Regal House). He has also edited and written the introduction for his late father's Pan Am Ferry Tales: A World War II Aviation Memoir (McFarland). He lives and teaches in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

Poetry by Gaylord Brewer

Poetry by Gaylord Brewer

Gaylord Brewer is the author of fifteen previous books of poetry, fiction, criticism, and cookery, including Country of Ghost (Red Hen, 2015) and The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, & Desire (Stephen F. Austin, 2015). His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry and The Bedford Introduction to Literature.

Poetry by Sara Shea

Poetry by Sara Shea

Sara Shea received her BA from Kenyon College, where she served as Student Associate Editor for The Kenyon Review. She's pursued graduate studies through the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC Asheville and at Western Carolina University, where she studied with Ron Rash. Her work has appeared in

Poetry by Molly O'Dell

Poetry by Molly O'Dell

Molly O’Dell is a family physician and loves being outdoors, her primary influencer. She also loves writing and received an MFA from the University of Nebraska in 2009, published a chapbook, Off the Chart, and a multi-genre collection, Care is A Four Letter Verb, thanks to the regional and

Poetry by William Rieppe Moore

Poetry by William Rieppe Moore

William Rieppe Moore is from Richland County, South Carolina, and moved to Unicoi County, Tennessee, with his wife. He resumed to teaching high school English after earning an MA in English from East Tennessee State University. Moore's poetry has received various honors, including Pushcart Prize and Best of

This Edition

Volume 1, Edition 6 Porchlight is proud to publish the winner and runners-up in the 2025 William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story: DANIEL REISS is the winner for his short story, "The Princess Motel." He received $500 and a trophy. Runners-up: KEN TEUTSCH for "Marylou Birdwell&

JON ROSS ANDERSON, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

JON ROSS ANDERSON, William Gay Memorial Prize Runner-Up

Jon Ross Anderson is an emerging writer, having published one other short story in Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature and poetry in NEBO Literary Journal. He is a student at Arkansas Tech University and works for his older brother preconditioning feeder calves in Timbo, Arkansas, which is relevant to

William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story

William Gay Memorial Prize in Short Story

Porchlight is proud to announce that DANIEL REISS is the winner of the inaugural William Gay Memorial Prize for his short story, "The Princess Motel." As winner, Daniel will receive $500 and a trophy. His story, and well as the three runner-up entries, will be published in Porchlight

Poetry by Scott Hutchison

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Poetry by Scott Hutchison