The Best Stories of 2024

Published May 14, 2024

Words by Hanif Abdurraqib | Photos by Erik Carter 

The quiet but ever-legendary André 3000 has pushed past fame’s expectations in favor of evolution with his experimental 2023 album New Blue Sun, featuring his beloved flute. Without a single rap bar, this project was born of a love between artist and instrument, and it is a testament to the rap icon’s self-discovery and truth of feeling. Published in Issue No. 7, this piece by highly decorated poet, essayist and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib probes  a man’s devotion to directness and humanity as taught by a wooden instrument. André 3000 has dedicated his artistic life to exploration and a gentle disregard for boundaries set by the art he once created. The freedom and comfort he has found in fame, paired with the introspective manner in which he travels through life, make his the ultimate Bitter Southerner story. It is the honor of a lifetime to feature two such high-caliber artists in a single piece that has been crafted so artfully with spit and soul. 

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“The thing is, I can only give what I’m feeling. I’m interested in discovery. If there’s not any discovery, it doesn’t feel real to me. I’ve never considered myself the best producer or the best singer or the best rapper or any of those separate categories. But one thing I do have confidence in is my feeling.”

Published June 5, 2024

Words by Michael Oates Palmer | Painting by Jason Holley 

For 60 years, Curtis Wilkie covered it all: civil rights, poverty, presidential politics, and the Middle East. In Issue No. 7 and his first piece for The Bitter Southerner, Michael Oates Palmer explores a nomadic childhood, violent history, ignorant Republicans, journalism on the brink and sandwich crackers with the gentle and authoritative reporter in his 83rd year. In describing their intergenerational friendship, the author paints a vivid picture of Wilkie’s neverending humility, commitment to justice and tasteful use of profanity. Throughout his career, Wilkie accrued a unanimously agreed-upon legend status in the world of journalism. Reporting from Oxford, Mississippi, Oates Palmer masters the daunting and perfectly obvious task of interviewing the lifelong interviewer. 

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“Whether in college or covering Civil Rights, the campaign press corps or the Middle East, New Orleans and, eventually, Oxford, Curtis both nurtured and drew breath from camaraderie and community. The only child found his brothers and sisters out in the world.”

Published June 26, 2024

Words by Wendell Brock | Photos by Paul Kwilecki & Jimmy Nicholson 

Photographer Paul Kwilecki spent four decades documenting a single southwest Georgia county, a place he called home and where he never truly fit in. One of the most famous photographers you don’t know, Kwikecki dedicated his career to telling the story of his “remote and approachable home” of Decatur County, Georgia. Until his death in 2009, this photographer’s somberness, sensitivity and solitude were a spitting image of the place he grew up. Long-time contributor to The Bitter Southerner beyond this feature in Issue No. 7, writer Wendell Brock traces Kwilecki’s steps, combs through his archives and cracks open his personal journals  — revealing the man’s inner life​ and genius. Both subject and author hail from the same town, making this story more personal and intimate than you could ever imagine. 

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“Kwilecki took respite in his intellect, and his memories. Those journal entries recounting key childhood interludes shine with the flair of a novelist.  Some of these occurrences — like his job operating the movie projector at Bainbridge’s old Ritz theater  — brought him joy. Others —like a long train ride home from summer camp, desperate to be reunited with his mother — did not.”

Published July 9, 2024

Words by Roxane Gay | Illustrations by Natalie K. Nelson

Long-time readers may do a double-take at the thought of a Bitter Southerner piece about TikTok, but this story’s study of the cultural phenomenon’s vast political reach could not be more fitting. An author whose career has been defined by her explorations of culture, sex and the female body through literary excellence, Roxane Gay reveals the “hypnotic but also deeply distressing” bottomless pit that is TikTok. A ballad of audience and entertainer, this piece informs its readers of the Mormonism, makeup, meal preparation, and medical advice that await users of the app, as well as the misogyny and misinformation that lurk in broad daylight. There is a palpable yearning to be seen and understood, but a potential for profit runs the show. Gay makes space for all things, holding simultaneously the creative and sprawling and anarchic and tedious and addictive mess that has taken the world by storm. 

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“It becomes something of a Faustian bargain, because our online habits and behaviors are carrion for tech vultures. As we scroll, they feast. 

After a while, there is a certain tedium to TikTok. The feast becomes overwhelming. Our taste buds dull. Our eyes dry. TikTok understands that once you start scrolling, it is so very hard to stop.”

Published July 17, 2024

Words by Christina Lee | Photos by Kelly Christine Sutton 

Kacey Musgraves has long complicated the definition of country music by staying true to herself, but what is more country than the God’s-honest truth? This profile peers into the heart of the world-renowned star with a voice clear as crystal as she unpacks the complexities of fame and femininity. We cannot imagine a story more fitting for our All Women Issue. These days, with the release of her album Deeper Well, she leans hard into softness, love (“one of the most radically feminist things you can do”) and not living life in the shallow end. Through Musgraves, author Christina Lee beautifully describes the sheer power of women who dig deep into both gentleness and grit. 

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“For all the critical observations about her music being incredibly specific to her, she’d rather say that it points to a universal truth about the importance of being vulnerable. ‘It just cuts to the core of the human experience,’ she says. It reminds us of ‘the importance of examining your personal power,’ and that ‘sometimes your most powerful attribute is your softest.’”

Published July 24, 2024

Words by Elissa Altman | Illustrations by Courtney Garvin 

In the light of the moon, James Beard Award-winner Elissa Altman brings to life a full picture of women’s inner worlds that includes the complex, the tragic and the beautiful. Life is built, and falls apart, and is built again and again. The night is long and sleeplessness is a curse, but the day will always come. Until then, we reflect and grieve and, if it feels right, we cook. Altman offers niche vocabulary, kept like secrets, to describe the complex emotions every woman is certain and terrified that no one has ever felt before. What a beautiful exploration of the stubborn and soft spirit of women; we are so proud to have published it in the All Women Issue. 

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“This magnificent creature of myth and promise of transformation and healing who had appeared on my door frame like a mezuzah, blessing all who enter. Phalena plumata caudata — Latin for brilliant feather tail — was the first North American silk moth to appear in writings about insects, in 1700. It was here long before Homo sapiens walked upright; it was here before the wars and the disease. It will be here long after we’ve gone, compelled by the light of the moon.”

Published September 8, 2024

Words by Holly Haworth | Photos by Rinne Allen 

In a haunting illustration of women, nature and the parallel violence they endure, Holly Haworth calls attention to patterns that scream out but are too often ignored. With intricate and vivid prose, she paints a picture of what women must think about when walking through the world, not just the woods. Haworth writes from Athens in the aftermath of the murder of Laken Riley, and describes the threat women face as not limited to one person who can be put behind bars, but a threat much more deeply rooted. In the words of the great Courtney Barnett, “Men are scared that women will laugh at them … Women are scared that men will kill them.” All women want to do is walk through the park in the dark. As violence against women continues in our culture, life goes mercilessly on: the chill of fall will come, but Holly Haworth will not let our women be forgotten. This story from the All Women’s Issue is gut-wrenching and honest, and its included list of victims will take your breath away. 

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“This is, I think, what it means to be a woman in the woods. To be a wild bird, to be a wild rose. Uncaged, untamed. Singing, reaching for the light. To have a will. To have a voice like every other living thing. To be a dead woman in the woods means the opposite of all that. And to be a woman in the woods is also to know it could go that way for you, too.”

Published September 26, 2024

Words by Jewly Hight | Photos by Graham Tolbert

Rock’s reluctant rising star has always been ambivalent about fame. That just makes him all the more magnetic. We’ve seen his work with Asheville’s screaming alt-rock group Wednesday, and yet MJ Lenderman’s charming, emotive and self-aware rock and roll is in a league of its own. This piece from Issue No. 9 dives headfirst into the influence and introspections of Southern rock’s quiet new champion. We are so excited to tell this story. Long before MJ performed at The Bitter Southerner’s 10th birthday party at the 40 Watt Club, we waited with bated breath to see just who this artist would become. To put it plainly, we were not disappointed. When Stephen Colbert introduced another project as “Waxahatchee, featuring MJ Lenderman,” there was no doubt in our minds that MJ had turned a corner into something even greater. Equally excited were we to work with one of the best writers in country music Jewly Hight, and we could not be more pleased. This duo is a match made in Southern rock heaven, and we assure you: there is more to come. 

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“Lenderman’s not one to say that he’s doing anything all that sophisticated. When I ask if he cares about coming off as clever or poetic in his songwriting, he’s noncommittal. ‘I don’t know if I can use those words. I want to be a good lyricist, still working on it.’”

Published October 1, 2024

Words by Jim Barger Jr.

You can argue over whether Jimmy Carter was America’s greatest president, but he was undoubtedly one of the greatest Americans to ever become president. This piece by Carter’s personal friend and fishing buddy Jim Barger Jr. looks back on the life and career of an American hero who — along with his wife Rosalynn — eliminated fatal diseases, championed human rights, and literally negotiated world peace. Barger outlines Carter’s persistent fight for the country’s most vulnerable populations, even and most especially in the face of fierce opposition. His lifelong message of moral perseverance could not be more relevant; Jimmy Carter shines like a diamond amidst the untruths and misinformation that make up so much of American politics today. If, like us, you finish this story from Issue No. 9 and desperately need more, the author also recently released a full-length book with BS Publishing entitled Jimmy Carter: Rivers and Dreams that dives deep into the life and love that built such a legendary political figure,with a foreword by the former president himself. 

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“Rather than serving the rich and powerful, Jimmy Carter spent his life following the primary tenet of his faith — to serve “the least of these,” people his well-worn Bible defined as: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, and the prisoner. Throughout the course of my life, Jimmy Carter has served as an unwavering example of the impact one person can have for good in the world if they put the needs of others above themselves.”

Published October 11, 2024

Words by Shane Mitchell | Photos by Josh Letchworth 

Kumqwhat? For her 10th story in the Crop Cycle series accumulated over the last nine years, Shane Mitchell lands in a Central Florida town, where the last growers hold out against developers, to learn why these curious sweet-tart citrus cousins are so celebrated. This story follows the Gude family farmers, devastating agricultural disease, and the tiny fruit’s history rooted across the globe. This story, published in Issue No. 9, is the last to be released in the Crop Cycle series. The good news is, there is one more that has never been published. Even better news: to find it, you’ll have to read Shane Mitchell’s remarkable new book The Crop Cycle: Stories With Deep Roots, published hand in hand with BS Publishing. 

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“‘I grow the hell out of weeds,’ he chuckled. ‘If I could grow kumquats as good, I’d be a millionaire. But still fixing to put in more trees. Keep trying until we can’t.’ Farmers might be the world’s greatest optimists until they stop being farmers.”

Published October 15, 2024

Words by Kiese Laymon | Photos by Patrick Cray 

This story by Kiese Laymon, published in Issue No. 9, is one of the most powerful pieces ever featured in The Bitter Southerner. In this raw and symbolism-ridden stream of consciousness, Laymon reveals how personal suffering can be uneasily digested and spit back out into the world around you. He grapples with death — both his and his grandmother’s — as he asks life’s simple yet unanswerable questions about human nature: What is evil? Where does home come from? Is there a difference between helpless trust and love? He paints a picture of religion, American identity, humiliation, family and fear that has been shared widely around the world — a testament to its timeless universal truth. Laymon wrote this work in the most emotionally and physically intense situation imaginable, and we could not breathe until we finished reading.  

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“I left the doctor, proud because I’d trust fallen and let someone trained take a bit of responsibility for my health, which felt like allowing someone trained to take responsibility for my death, which — in a pitiful powerful empire — too often feels like love.”

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