Finding the Wild South: An Evening with Southlands

Jan. 8, 2026, 6pm.

Grady College, University of Georgia (120 Hooper St., Athens, Ga.)

Peyton Anderson Forum (Room 238)

Join Southlands founding editor Boyce Upholt and assistant editor Holly Haworth for an intimate look at the creation of the South's newest regional magazine. Upholt, a James Beard Award-winning journalist and author of The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi, will discuss the vision behind Southlands—a publication dedicated to exploring the overlooked wild places and outdoor cultures that define the American South.

Haworth, an Athens local whose environmental writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Orion, Emergence, Oxford American, and The Best American Science and Nature Writing, brings her expertise in ecological storytelling to the magazine. Together, they'll read selections from the magazine's inaugural issue, "The Nature of the Southern Thing," and discuss how Southlands seeks to challenge misconceptions about Southern landscapes while building community through place-based storytelling.

A Q&A will follow, covering regional storytelling, the future of place-based journalism, and how Southlands is working to showcase the South's environmental richness and complexity. Copies of the magazine will be available for purchase.

Free and open to the public.