South Arts' Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Literary Arts acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality literary work being created in the American South. Beginning in 2024, the State Fellowships for Literary Arts will be awarded to writers with a commitment to literary excellence as evidenced by the quality of their work. This anthology contains the nine selected stories and excerpts chosen from the hundreds submitted for consideration over the previous year. The cohort of nine State Fellows included here were selected through a two-tiered selection process by a national jury. Jurors made their selections based on artistic excellence as reflected in the application package (writing sample and artist's statement) that reflects and represents the diversity of artistic expression of the region.

This collection features work from Ashley Blooms, Camille Boxhill, F.E. Choe, Constance Collier-Mercado, Melissa Ginsburg, Joanna Pearson, Randi Pink, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and Yurina Yoshikawa. The selected stories are accompanied by an introduction by South Arts Board Member John T. Edge and foreword by South Arts President and CEO, Suzette M. Surkamer.