Explore Deep South literary heritage

America’s Deep South is calling literary buffs with a series of immersive tours bringing to life the South’s iconic literary heritage.

Go on a tour of the homes and haunts of some of the region’s most celebrated authors and visit the places that inspired their greatest works.

The five states of the Deep South – Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee – are synonymous with southern hospitality, the Civil Rights movement, music and soul food but are arguably best known for their great southern authors who produced some of the most enduring novels and characters.

Last year marked the 60th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird while The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin’s take on Harper Lee’s classic novel opens at the Gielgud Theatre, London in March 2022.

Alabama

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller might have been set in Maycomb but the fictional town was inspired by the sleepy town of Monroeville, where the author grew up and where her childhood friend, Truman Capote spent summers. Every April and May, a version of Mockingbird  is put on by people from the community, while the jury presiding over Robinson’s trial is selected from the audience before each performance.

A short drive away lies Montgomery where iconic literary couple, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, lived from 1931-32 and where Scott worked on his masterpiece Tender is the Night. The Jazz Age couple’s Felder Avenue home is now the site of the F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum and a two-bedroom apartment that can be booked by literary lovers on Airbnb.

Kentucky

Harriette Simpson Arnow, Robert Penn Warren, and Hunter S. Thompson are just some of the notable authors born and bred in the state of Kentucky while JoJo Moyes’ 2020 Sunday Times bestseller, The Giver of Stars, tells the story of a 30s horseback library in Kentucky. Little wonder then that the Kentucky Book Festival (KBF) – a celebration of reading, writing, and publishing – is such a big deal. The annual event has a rich history of supporting Kentucky authors while seeking out national bestsellers and inviting them to visit the state.

Louisiana

Experience the world of James Lee Burke and his much loved detective protagonist, Dave Robicheaux in New Iberia. Enjoy a walking tour through the three-quarter-mile district along the Bayou Teche, passing over 50 buildings dating between 1890 and 1930.

New Orleans exerted an influence on Tennessee Williams who once said: "If I can be said to have a home it is New Orleans." Stay in the Tennessee Williams Suite at Hotel Monteleone, which featured in Williams’ play The Rose Tattoo, hop on a streetcar you can temporarily name ‘Desire’ down Saint Charles or pay tribute to the great American playwright at the annual Tennessee Williams Festival in March.

Mississippi

The Mississippi Writers Trail pays tribute to the southern Gothic specialist William Faulkner as well as a host of other literary heroes from the Magnolia State – including Richard Wright and Eudora Welty – via a Mississippi Writers Trail marker. Visitors can learn more about these well-known wordsmiths by viewing the cast aluminium markers, each designed in the image of an open book, outside some of the places that inspired their classic works.

Tennessee

The Volunteer State has long been a pioneer in southern literature giving us such literary stars such as Cormac McCarthy, James Agee, Nikki Giovanni, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Alex Roots Haley – all of whom called the Tennessee City of Knoxville home for a spell and wrote about their experiences.

Visit the scenes that inspired these literary legends and walk in the footsteps of their characters courtesy of the Literary Knox Walking Tour.

How to get there

Experience the Deep South with America As You Like It (www.americaasyoulikeit.com).Specialists in unique, tailor-made holidays to the USA and Canada.

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