south

Jessica Handler is author of "Braving The Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Invisible Sisters: A Memoir." Handler gave her list of favorite southern books. Her forthcoming novel, "Magnetic Girl" will be available in 2019.

"Southern" has a variety of meanings in the personal and popular imagination. It's a term that evokes history, food and musical traditions and ways of speaking. They often get lumped together, especially by those who don't know the South.

Food can evoke so many rich memories. A book by Savannah food writer Jonathan Barrett captures some of the stories tied to Southern recipes. We talked with Barrett, author of the new book Cook & Tell, in 2017. We also heard from freelance writer Amy Condon, who contributed her own story to the book.

Three years ago, a coyote with ice blue eyes lay stock still as scientists took her blood, weighed her, and fixed a GPS collar around her neck on a dirt road next to a field near Augusta.

For National Iced Tea Day, we dive into the little-known origins of a Southern staple: sweet tea. These days you can find it just about everywhere in Georgia. However, there was a time when sweet tea was more rare. Producer Sean Powers pours up a tall glass of history with freelance journalist Tove Danovich and Vernell Mosley of the Sweet Tea Factory.

Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane is almost as known for his run-ins with the law as he is for his raw, Southern-fried lyrics. He was recently released from prison after serving almost three years, but incarceration didn’t do much to curb his creative drive. From behind bars, he released more than a dozen new albums, a movie, and an autobiography is in the works. 

We speak with Atlanta hip-hop artist Makonnen and hip-hop scholar Regina Bradley about Gucci Mane’s influence on hip-hop in the South.

Before she performed under the name TORRES, she was Mackenzie Scott, a teenager in Macon, Ga. Hear Scott perform three songs off her album Sprinter and talk about what its like to come home in this performance at Capricorn Studio in Macon. Listen above, watch below.