Georgia Center for the Book

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 2025 will be held March 20 — 22, 2025. The Call for Voic­es will be open from Sep­tem­ber 6 — Octo­ber 30, 2024. Read the Call and find the form for sub­mis­sions here.

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.

See the latest Georgia Center for the Book news

Sign up for our newsletter to keep up with what's new at Georgia Center for the Book

Georgia Center for the Book is hosted by


and is an affiliate of