Literature

Today our guest is Mt. Pleasant native Grady Hendrix, author of the horror novel Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (2025, Berkley Books).The novel is set in Florida in 1970 and is about a group of pregnant teenage girls, living in a maternity home for unwed girls, who discover a book on witchcraft. For the first time in their lives power seems to be in the hands.We’ll talk with Grady about this latest book, as well as some of his past ones, and explore how he came to specialize in the horror fiction genre.

Colson Whitehead’s fiction often pulses with the spirit of jazz, shaping both rhythm and structure in his narratives.

Throughout American literature, jazz has been a storytelling tool. Writers like Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison didn’t merely write about jazz — they wrote with it.

“H” is for Humphreys, Josephine (b.1945). Novelist.

“H” is for Humphreys, Josephine (b.1945). Novelist.

“D” is for Durban, Pam Rosa (b. 1947). Author. A native of Aiken, Durban attended the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.

“D” is for Durban, Pam Rosa (b. 1947). Author. A native of Aiken, Durban attended the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Although some consider it invasive, the Trumpet Creeper has inspired naturalists and writers, such as hummingbird enthusiast William Hilton.

Although some consider it invasive, the Trumpet Creeper has inspired naturalists and writers, such as hummingbird enthusiast William Hilton.

Jazz doesn’t just live in music—it lives in words. And nowhere is that more true than in Southern literature, where jazz becomes both soundtrack and symbol.