About

Mission

There’s a sound growing down South…

Founded in May 2021, Susurrus is dedicated to spotlighting the talented writers and photographers who make up the American South. We publish artists who think, as we do, that this place is made stronger and more beautiful because of its rich diversity.

For us, the American South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, and West Virginia. (If you don’t see yourself reflected here, you may make your case in your cover letter.)

Still, boundaries exist only on globes and maps. They do not account for the communities that span the Appalachian Mountains nor the swamps and bayous where many have made a home. While the cultures and identities here are varied and complex, there remains something—indescribable yet undeniable—that connects us all.

And as we’ve grown and evolved, we’ve seen the meaning of “Southern” shift and stretch. People move away, return, or simply pass through. The South, then, is not just a location. It is lived. And it stays with you, wherever you go.

This is not a sweet tea and crinoline kind of publication. Our love for this region is not rooted in white-washed nostalgia, nor in the false mythos of an ideology entrenched in hate. It is founded in the long tradition of activism and community that continues to shape the South—and in the writers and photographers who participate in that work today.

We believe Black lives matter. We believe no one is illegal on stolen land. We believe our queer family deserves love and equal rights across this vast region.

If that resonates with you, we invite you to submit. Welcome home. (And if you’d like us to read your work, please read our guidelines.)

Masthead

Michelle Champagne

Editor in Chief & Flash Editor

(she/her)

Michelle Champagne recently earned her MFA from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. She also holds degrees from Mercer University and Wake Forest University, where she was the Graduate Fellow for Fiction Collective 2. She is an Associate Editor for Bull City Press and her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Follow on BlueSky.

Alumni: Michelle Meredith (Interviews & Nonfiction Editor) and Eliana Franklin (Guest Poetry Editor)