From novels to books of poetry to cookbooks, Alison Law writes The Bitter Southerner’s 2022 Summer Reading Roundup.
Mythological meets Southern gothic in this debut poetry collection from J. Bailey Hutchinson. In the book, we are witness to a mother’s love encircling a raging 8-year-old who has just accidentally wounded her. The poet prays to the natural forces of a mighty “Miss” to curtail the supernatural visits from her deceased grandmother. Gut won the 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize. In the book’s preface, series editor Patricia Smith calls Hutchinson “a Southern girl who sees no need to pound in that fact with a narrative hammer.” Anthony Blake, a classmate and friend of Hutchinson’s who saw many of the poems develop over the years, designed the arresting book cover, which features the artwork of Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska.
J. Bailey Hutchinson is from Memphis, Tennessee. She earned her MFA from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she served as assistant director of the Open Mouth Literary Center. She is an associate editor at Milkweed Editions, and her work can be found in Muzzle Magazine, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Ninth Letter, among other publications. She lives in Minneapolis.