REAL SOUTH Magazine is now REAL SOUTH/WEST Magazine—your big bi-monthly digital helping of authentic Southern and Southwestern literature and culture. We’re especially interested in bringing you indie, emerging, under-the-radar writers and artists and music. The South and Southwest are also a more diverse place than it’s typically portrayed, so we’ll also strive to bring you a slice of the many different cultures and lifestyles that make up today’s South and Southwest.
The first issue of REAL SOUTH/WEST launched in May 2024. That one is free, and so is the September 2024 issue while we set up a metered paywall for future issues. This website as well as the digital magazine content will be updated and tweaked as we get better at this, so keep checking back!
Lisa J. Gouveia
Editor and Publisher
Austin, Texas
My passion is promoting the great art, music, writing, and culture of the American South and Southwest, especially the indie/under-the-radar stuff. I have a long history in graphic design and publications. I was Managing Editor/Art Director for a small Southern print mag that shut down in 2011. I ran REAL SOUTH Magazine for about a year, then…well, a lot of major life stuff happened. With the help of some interested parties a little farther out west, so REAL SOUTH Magazine is relaunching as REAL SOUTH/WEST Magazine.Â
John Dufresne
Fiction Editor and Contributing Editor
Dania Beach, Florida
John Dufresne has written two story collections and six novels, including Louisiana Power & Light, Love Warps the Mind a Little, both New York Times Notable Books of the Year. He’s also written four books on writing, two plays, Liv & Di and Trailerville and has co-written two feature films. His stories have twice been named Best American Mystery Stories. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and teaches creative writing at FIU in Miami. He is a co-editor of Flash Fiction America.
Cindy Chinelly
Poetry Editor
Dania Beach, Florida
Cindy Chinelly is a poet and short story writer, the author of the chapbook The Coralroot (Livingston University Press). Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including the Montana Review, North Stone Review, and Graham House Review, MidAmerican Review, and the SunSentinel newspaper/ Sunshine Magazine. She teaches creative writing at Florida International University and is co-editor of the anthology Having a Wonderful Time: An Anthology of South Florida Writers (edited with John Dufresne and Michael Hettich, Simon & Schuster).
The rest of REAL SOUTH/WEST Magazine comes from a network of freelancers all over the South and Southwest, particularly Texas, New Mexico, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
To submit to REAL SOUTH/WEST, send queries or manuscripts (as an attached Word doc) to submissions@realsouthwestmag.com or via STACK Submissions service (free for authors).