Join us for the first panel of Revival: Lost Southern Voices (RLSV) 2026!

A Revival in Stories: The Craft of Southern Historical Fiction

Featuring Carolyn Curry & Tony Grooms

Mod­er­at­ed by Jessica Handler

RLSV is free and open to the public, but we do request registration. This event takes place in the Decatur Library Auditorium, during normal library hours. Due to our security protocols, this means you will need to enter the library through the upper level, rear doors, and take the elevators to G. Elevators will be unlocked 30 minutes before the event.

We hope you'll view the full conference schedule and register for the other panels as well!

About the Speakers:

Carolyn Curry is an historian and writer. Her book, Suffer and Grow Strong: The Life of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas 1834-1907 received a Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2015. Also, her book was selected as one of the Ten Books All Georgians Should Read by the Center for the Book. It received Award of Excellence in Research by the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board. In 2022, she published a murder/mystery set in the world of football. In 2025 she has published in yet another genre, her first historical novel, Trudy's Awakening.

Anthony Grooms has published stories and novels that reflect on the Jim Crow and the American Civil Rights Movement eras. He is the author of the poem collection Ice Poems, the story collection Trouble No More, and the novels Bombingham and The Vain Conversation. He has published stories and poems in Callaloo, African American Review, Crab Orchard Review and other literary journals. He is a Fulbright Fellow (Sweden 2006), a Yaddo Fellow, a Finalist for the Legacy Award from Hurston-Wright Foundation, an Arts Administration Fellow from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the recipient of two Lillian Smith Prizes from the Southern Regional Council. He is Professor Emeritus at Kennesaw State University and an honoree of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. For more information, please visit AnthonyGrooms.com and AnthonyGrooms.Substack.com

About the Conversation Partner:

Jessica Handler is the author of the forthcoming novel The World to See. Her novel The Magnetic Girl was awarded the 2020 Southern Book Prize. She’s the author of the memoir Invisible Sisters, one of the “25 Books All Georgians Should Read,” and the craft guide Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss. Her nonfiction has appeared on NPR, in Five Points, Another Chicago Magazine, Image Journal, Salvation South, Tin House, Drunken Boat, The Bitter Southerner, Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Oldster, and elsewhere. www.jessicahandler.com 

About the Festival

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.