This year, the Southern Literary Festival (SLF) settled in Oxford, Miss. Sixteen southern colleges and universities’ best writers congregated at SLF 2024 for a packed three-day schedule.
History of SLF
Robert Penn Warren founded SLF at Blue Mountain College (Blue Mountain, Miss.) in 1937. SLF has been a thriving part of the Southern college literary scene for 85 years.
Over those years, SLF states that “[A]uthors associated with the festival …. were such literary elite as Eudora Welty, Shelby Foote, Katherine Anne Porter, John Gould Fletcher and Flannery O’ Connor…”
The annual spring conference brings together undergraduate Southern writers in not only a community but also a place that celebrates talent, culture and identity. Education and direction from successful individuals in academia and publishing are put at the forefront every year.
SLF has only been suspended twice in the entire 85 years of meeting. The festival was suspended for World War II from years 1942 to 1946. The 2020 SLF was supposed to be hosted by Delta State but was canceled for the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In 2021, SLF was hosted virtually by the University of North Georgia. Mississippi University for Women hosted the 2022 SLF conference, beginning in-person meetings again.
What Does SLF Mean to Delta State Students?
Delta State is one of the founding member schools of SLF. Every Delta State student has the opportunity to attend the festival through the school’s literary journal.
The school’s literary journal, the “Da,” takes submissions of creative work at the end of every fall semester. Submission categories consist of creative non-fiction, fiction, formal essay, one-act play or screenplay, art and poetry.
A panel of people that change yearly anonymously judge “Da” submissions. First and second place winners, are set to publish in the following “Da,” and also receive an invite to attend SLF the following spring.
Every spring semester, Delta State students edit paper copies of the “Da” for publication. All Delta State students can submit to the journal, though only undergraduates are eligible for awards.
2024 SLF
Four students, including myself, and Professor Mike Smith made our way to Oxford, Miss., for the 2024 SLF convention.
After a nearly two-hour drive, Ole Miss’s campus lay before us. Signage showed clearly where the university’s giant campus began and ended. In comparison to our intimate campus, it felt like an entirely new world.
After a roundabout trip, trying to find the check-in station for the event, my classmates and I piled out of the fifteen-passenger van and walked toward the Oxford Depot. Brick covers everything on the Ole Miss campus–roads, buildings, columns…The Depot steps were no different.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, with it being my first SLF. On top of that, I had never explored Ole Miss’s campus. Steps forward didn’t feel like steps, they felt like I was moving closer and closer to an invisible line in the sand that separated me from college and thrust me into professionalism.
I knew that everyone there was in the same boat as me, but that didn’t make a difference in how I felt. This was my first experience in a semi-professional setting. All of my outfits had been pre-approved by my classmate, and I planned days in advance for what I would read at the open mic.
I bit my nails down to the quick and looked at the schedule for the three-day trip. Maybe if I planned my every step, I would feel less like I was the ugly duckling.
One of my classmates pulled out her phone, taking videos of our surroundings. I dubbed her an influencer. I smiled at the camera and laughed accordingly.
After exploring some of the campus and going to a live radio show on the Square, we pulled back into the Depot parking lot. This would be the first time that I would be meeting my peers for the weekend. I bit my nails a little more.
After a short poetry reading, they opened the floor for an open mic. I’ve always been in love with words, but the way I heard people string them together in a beautiful collage of individuality, had me enthralled. With every passing person, I saw talent and planning in what they brought.
When it was my turn to read, I bit my nail a little harder and I walked up with my hands shaking. All of my classmates had gone before me and I was the last from Delta State to present. I introduced myself and went straight into my piece.
Public speaking has never been my thing. I was shaking and I know I was stumbling over words but by the end of it, I could tell the audience was genuinely interested in what I had to say.
When my closing line hit, I said thank you, and then applause sounded throughout the room. I made my way back to my seat and heard the rest of my peers give their open mics as well.
We closed out the night with a social, complimenting each other on our work and making connections. We traded social media and talked about anything under the sun.
It was then that my social anxiety ebbed to a small trickle, and I realized that the people there would be the people that I would see in passing after graduation in the professional southern literature scene. They weren’t a competition or people that I had to impress. They were people who were genuinely interested in the future of literature.
Just like me, they were on the cusp of entering the professional world in one way or another, and just like me, they cared about literature and writing.
I didn’t feel out of place anymore or anxious that I was an imposter. We were all in the same boat. If I was an ugly duckling in society, so were they.
As we closed out the night, joking and laughing in the parking lot, I felt seen. I felt heard. I felt like I had found community, even if it was for just three days.
2024 SLF Testimonials
“My favorite part of [the] Southern Literary Festival was the social aspect of it all. I was thankful to meet people who shared the same love and interests for writing and English like me! I learned a lot and really enjoyed the whole experience.” – Baleigh Bray, Blue Mountain Christian College, English Writing Major, Junior
“[I]t was a very wonderful and enriching experience. I felt so safe and so seen, especially in a world like this. The experience showed me I should continue to network and seek out more writing communities. I met amazing people and [made] even more lovely new revelations in my life.” – Kennedy Rawls, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Creative Writing Major, Political Science and Africana Studies Minor, Senior
“Even though I am a Psychology major and not looking to pursue a career in writing, the SLF gave me a vast amount of opportunities and helped me become more future-minded. All of the panelists gave great life advice and were extremely comprehensive in detailing the life of a writer. I can’t wait to come back next year!” – Rachel Johnson, Christian Brothers University, Psychology Major, Freshman
“It was just a great time, and I learned a lot! I especially enjoyed Andre Dubus III as the keynote speaker!” – Ashlyn Arnold, Christian Brothers University, Biology – Veterinary Medicine Major, Psychology and Creative Writing Minors, Freshman
2024 Member Schools of SLF
- Blue Mountain College (BMC)
- Christian Brothers University (CBU)
- Delta State University (DSU)
- Harding University (HU)
- Hendrix College (HC)
- Lipscomb University (LU)
- Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)
- Mississippi State University (MSU)
- Motlow State Community College (MSCC)
- Tennessee Technical College (TTU)
- University of Arkansas – Fort Smith (UASF)
- University of Mississippi (UMISS)
- University of North Georgia (UNG)
- University of Pikeville (UPIKE)
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC)
- University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM)
