For many years, I have been on the mailing lists of top New York publishing houses to receive books that deal with Southern life or its people.Each sealed envelope offers a moment of excitement before I open it. In those first seconds when I read the return label that has the name of the publishing house and the location of New York City, I anticipate that I am about to discover a new, wonderful work of Southern literature or nonfiction, a tale that I will fall into and savor to sweet satisfactionToo often, though, I am sorely disappointed. Sometimes the book is written by someone who lives in the South but wasn't born here to Southern-bred people.
Ronda Rich: This is what makes a truly Southern writer