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Welcome to the 2025 Southern Literature Reading Challenge! We’ll focus on books and authors from the southeastern region of the United States.
Table of Contents:
Definition of “The South”
Definitions of the South are flexible, so I’ve decided to base my definition on the current makeup of the Southern Legislative Conference:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- West Virginia
That said, I’m not looking for a debate and I’m flexible. These are only guidelines so use your best judgment.
Rules
- Read books by Southern authors set largely in the South
- You can read any genre, including fiction or nonfiction, classics, or contemporary works
- You can read books meant for any age group
- Crossovers with other challenges are fine
- Any format that you choose is also acceptable
- The challenge will run from January 1 through December 31, 2025
- A blog is not required for participation; you can also link to reviews on other sites such as GoodReads or Instagram
- Sign up anytime throughout the year
- I’ve tried to keep this simple but if you have any questions, reach out in the comments, via social media (links in my sidebar), or my contact form.
- Most importantly, have fun!
Diverse Authors
As a White woman from the South, I debated whether I should revive this challenge in 2021 because of the ongoing injustices throughout the country. Some of our books glorify slavery, racism, Jim Crow laws, the Civil War, and the issues surrounding them, each of which I wholeheartedly condemn. Ultimately, I decided that, while these flaws must not be ignored and are a shameful part of our heritage, they do not constitute the entirety of that heritage. Southern writers add a strong, unique voice to literature. However, that voice is incomplete unless it includes BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) authors, LGBTQIA+ authors, and other marginalized writers. I encourage participants to add diverse Southern authors to their book choices for this challenge. This is one of my personal goals and I will try to share my progress here. Please feel free to share any recommendations with me.
(Many, many thanks to my uncle for helping me write this section. He helped me clarify my stance while trying to be sensitive to the issues. Any missteps are inadvertent and my own.)
Reading Suggestions
I have a shelf on GoodReads with lots of books on it. There’s also a Best Southern Literature list on GoodReads that should give you some good ideas. Or you can reference the linked reviews from the 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011 versions of the challenge.
Levels
Level 1–C’mon in the house! Read 1-2 books.
Level 2–Pull up a seat and stay a while! Read 3-4 books
Level 3–Have a glass of sweet iced tea, honey. Read 5-6 books
Level 4–Y’all come back now, y’hear! Read 7+ books
About My Challenge Button
I chose to feature an image of Asheville, NC, my hometown, on the button for this challenge this year. My husband and I travel almost full-time with his job, so we weren’t home, but Asheville and the surrounding area really took a wallop when Hurricane Helene roared almost 500 miles inland to cause unimaginable flooding, landslides, and wind damage. Fortunately, my family, friends, and our property were mostly fine. But there are 103 verified fatalities in Western North Carolina so far. And so very many have lost everything, right down to the land they owned as it washed downstream. It took 53 days just for the city to get something as basic as drinking water back. It’s going to take years to rebuild from this. If you’re able, I hope you’ll consider donating to the ongoing relief efforts. Our local NPR affiliate maintains a list of relief organizations accepting donations. There are civic groups, religious groups, government groups, well-known organizations, and even some Friends of the Library on the list, so I hope you’ll find a group to suit you. Even if you’re unable to financially help, please keep us in your thoughts and/or prayers. Words can’t describe the devastation.
You can download the challenge button by clicking here then right-clicking.
Spread the Word
If you like the idea of this challenge, please help me spread the word via social media using #2025southernlit. Please also add a link to this post and/or the challenge image to your sign-up and review posts. You can also tag me @IntrovertedReader@bookstodon.com on Mastodon, @Introverted.Reader on Instagram, or @IntrovertedReader on Facebook if you’d like and I’ll try to share your posts. Thank you!
Sign Up Posts
I’m signing up at level 4 myself.
Please link directly to the post announcing your intention to participate (Not your home page), or your social media profile (Please keep in mind these links are publicly viewable).
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Review Links
Please link directly to your review and not your blog home page. My suggested format is your name and/or the title of your blog and then the title of the book in parentheses.
Example: Jen @ Introverted Reader (To Kill a Mockingbird)
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Wrap Up Posts
If you’ve completed the challenge, congratulations! If you choose to write a wrap-up post, you may link it here.
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