Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
“When Eudora Welty composed a story, she pinned the sheets of paper together! I have an image of her with pins bristling from her mouth as, like a dressmaker working from a paper pattern, she tacked her frill-free paragraphs together, patiently tailoring the prose to fit the oddly shaped reality.” — John Updike
John Updike, Bobbie Ann Mason, X.J. Kennedy, and others remember Eudora Welty. Essays by Paul Reyes, Donna Tartt, Jacob Levenson, and more. Fiction by John McManus. An interview with Barry Hannah.
Other contributors include Bill Belleville, Eric Ormsby, Hal Crowther, David Bottoms, and more.
Dealer’s Choice
A MAN OF THE WORLD
James Still (1906–2001)
by Hal Crowther
Local Fare
EAT MORE POSSUM?
by John T. Edge
Southern Gallery
BARRY HANNAH
One of the South’s most celebrated fiction writers discusses his technique and beliefs.
Wildlife
WHERE TINY DEER REIGN
by Bill Belleville
Family Life
THE PLACE OF SHAKESPEARE IN A HOUSE OF PAIN
by Eric Ormsby
Art Views
SPANISH GRANDEUR IN MISSISSIPPI
by Donna Tartt
Southern Music
THE OTHER MUSIC CITIES
by Alex Halberstadt
Gone Off Up North
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHIN'
by Roy Blount Jr.
Forum
REMEMBERING EUDORA WELTY (1909-2001)
John Updike, Bobbie Ann Mason, X.J. Kennedy, and others pay tribute
Southern Scenes
EUDORA WELTY
photograph by William Eggleston
ON THE ROAD IN THIRD-WORLD ALABAMA
The AIDS epidemic has hit the rural South, and one man tries to help.
by Jacob Levenson
STRANGE FRUIT: THE DREAM OF ELMER MARTIN
A Baltimore wax museum documents—explicitly—the events that shaped African-American history.
by Paul Reyes
SAMUEL MOCKBEE’S VISION IN AN INVISIBLE WORLD
A “genius” award-winning architect builds postmodern homes for the poor.
by Raad Cawthon
FETCH
A young man wants the affection of his roommate.
a story by John McManus
VIGILANCE
by David Bottoms
DOCUMENTARY
by James Applewhite
Cover: "Leland Juke" by Birney Imes (Leland, Mississippi, 1983)