The South Has Stories to Tell. Deesha Philyaw and Chantel Acevedo Are Coming to Books & Books to Tell Them.

If you care about Southern fiction — and if you're in Miami, there's a good chance you do — mark November 2 on your calendar. Books & Books in Coconut Grove is hosting an evening with Deesha Philyaw and Chantel Acevedo, two writers who know the South from the inside out, in conversation about New Stories from the South 2026 (Blair, $19.95). The event is free, starts at 5 PM, and takes place at 3409 Main Highway.

New Stories from the South is back. The annual anthology — long considered the definitive collection of Southern short fiction — returns with its 2026 edition, edited by Robin Miura with an introduction by Silas House. Stories were nominated by editors of literary journals, magazines, and publishers, and by prominent Southern writers who served as contributing editors. The result is a collection that moves between seasoned voices and exciting newcomers, all writing about a region that refuses to be reduced to a single story.

The 2026 edition features work by Ron Rash, Deesha Philyaw, Mesha Maren, Emily Nemens, Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, Tony Earley, Exodus Oktavia Brownlow, A.J. Bermudez, Heather Swain, Chelyen Davis, Joanna Pearson, Jody Hobbs Hesler, Catherine Niolet, Dean Marshall Tuck, Emily Harper Ellis, Farheen Raparthi, Randy F. Nelson, Lisa Wartenberg Vélez, and Pritha Bhattacharyya.

Deesha Philyaw's debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Story Prize, and the LA Times Book Prize for First Fiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts — Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently developing TV shows based on her short fiction.

Chantel Acevedo was born in Miami to Cuban parents and is the author of The Living Infinite, A Falling Star, and Love and Ghost Letters, winner of the Latino International Book Award. She is a professor of English at the University of Miami, where she directs the MFA program. Her roots in this city make this particular evening feel like a homecoming.

RSVP is encouraged. If you can't make it in person, Books & Books will get a signed copy shipped to your door — order through their site. The event is presented with Blair Publishers.

Monday, November 2. 5 PM. Books & Books, 3409 Main Highway, Coconut Grove. Free admission.