A.R. Ammons was asked if he agreed that the United States has not produced a major poet in the last 30 years: "I agree.... The poetry in the country has become sort of a company affair where support for the arts has just about ruined the arts and the system of bureaucrats managing the funds being developed here and there is turning into trade unionism, which may be the best way to write poetry, but it is unfamiliar to me."

This comprehensive collection contains 31 interviews in which Southern writers talk about their craft, the Southern literary scene, and themselves. Poets, short story writers, and novelists include firmly established writers side by side with emerging talent--Lee Smith, James Dickey, Harry Crews, Pat Conroy, Doris Bett, Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Justice, and 25 others.