Don't Leave Hungry: 50 Years of Southern Poetry Review

The idea of Southern literature rankles some writers. There are those who rather would disassociate with the region, saying there's more to their writing that the place they were born. Other writers embrace a Southern identity to the point of caricature. And just what defines Southern literature, anyway? Writer, subject or both?

This question of Southern literature is frequently talked about in terms of fiction, but Southern poetry is rarely discussed. In this conversation for Cover to Cover, GPB's weekly program about books, Orlando Montoya talks with the editor of a new anthology chronicling 50 years of Southern Poetry Review.

James Smith, the editor of "Don't Leave Hungry" and the associate editor for the venerable journal, makes the case for a journal that has staunchly stuck to a founding -- and some might say, provocative -- vision of Southern poetry. Namely, it doesn't always have to be about the South.

Smith reads three poems, including one by U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. He also talks about the journal's founder, Guy Owen, and what made him tick. And he explains how the journal has -- and hasn't -- changed over the years. Smith also teaches at Armstrong Atlantic State University. "Don't Leave Hungry: 50 Years of Southern Poetry Review" is published by the University of Arkansas Press.
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Going Green with Melaver

On this week's Cover to Cover Orlando Montoya sits down with Martin Melaver to discuss his book "Living Above the Store: Building a Business That Creates Value, Inspires Change and Restores Land and Community"... Orlando Montoya sends us this short history of Melaver's many green endeavors...

I've been reporting on Martin Melaver's career since shortly after I came to Savannah in 1998. A developer, Melaver made news by undertaking one of the nation's first historic renovations to LEED standards. And if you don't know what those standards are, they basically govern everything about the building process for properties that want to be certified as "environmentally friendly." I interviewed him again when he developed a pioneering suburban strip mall to LEED standards.
Now he's involved in an "environmentally friendly" public housing project and has written a book about his journey in business. "Living Above the Store: Building a Business That Creates Value, Inspires Change and Restores Land and Community" is really a management handbook. In this interview, he also touches on hard questions that go to the core of two of our biggest global problems -- the recession and climate change -- and proves why he is considered a leading thinker in Savannah's sustainability movement.

You can hear the interview this Sunday night at 8 on GPB.
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