Alexandria, VA – Review: Photographing Southern Writers
Publisher: Summer House Books
Author: Mark Morrow
Reviewed by: Ralph Peluso, Literary Editor
Zebra Rating: 5 Stripes
Generally, it’s said not to judge a book by its cover, but with Photographing Southern Writers – An Unlikely Journey to the Soul of Southern Literature, by Mark Morrow, suspend that phrase. Pictured on the cover is an unemotionally pensive older woman staring and absorbing your soul. Maybe she’s detached or existentially despairing like the main character in Eudora Welty’s early work, Death of a Traveling Salesman. Or could be she is tired of navigating life, reconciliations, and the intricacies of relationships, as was the theme of Welty’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Optimist’s Daughter. Bottom line, I immediately wanted to know more about that writer and each of the writers in Mark Morrow’s work.
Of course, there is a story behind the story. “This project was more or less the product of serendipity and did not begin with a clear plan. In other words, I did not wake up one day and say to myself, ‘Got it! My mission is to go out and photograph the best living Southern writers who will let me in their door and then I’ll publish a book about the experience.’ No, it just sort of happened,” said Morrow in a recent interview.
Turns out the author put his trust in the serendipity of the process and produced a work that ignites intellectual curiosity. One example is the captivating, enigmatic picture of the broadly smiling Tennessee Williams, in bed with hair disheveled, playing with his bulldog, Queen. In the background, there is a starkly ordinary nightstand with several vials of medication, some open, a vintage hurricane-style lamp, and a rotary phone with the receiver off the hook. His central characters were often fragile, dysfunctional, emotionally wounded misfits that clung to illusions within their lives. Or social outsiders struggling to find their place in an unforgiving world. Was the Williams smile real, or a charade intended to camouflage his own authenticity to his characters? How did the tuxedo-clad Tennessee Williams I remember from magazine pictures fall so far from grace?
Morrow smartly captures the soul of these authors in his work. Tom Wolfe is caught smirking as he sits with his fingers on a piano keyboard. I wondered if that look was personal amusement to those of us who lived through the 60s and may have taken a hallucinogenic ride on a rainbow-colored magic bus, as his characters, the Merry Pranksters, did. The compilation of these photographs, coupled with the author’s summary biographies, underscores that life is an up and down journey, and we all need to enjoy the ride for as long as we can.
Mark Morrow lives in Alexandria, Virginia. His varied career spans four decades: journalist, editor, photographer, and author. He is a former private pilot who flew a helicopter around the Statue of Liberty. And, talk about embarrassing moments, Mark was fired from his first two jobs in journalism. The third time was the charm; working for his hometown newspaper, he won a statewide feature-writing award. He’ll tell you he worked his entire life as a writer and editor without any ability to spell or a grasp of grammar rules.
Photographing Southern Writers is terrific work for all, from the intellectually curious to those looking for pure enjoyment from a serendipitous nostalgic journey. Enjoy where it takes you. These photographs display their authentic human side. Quoting Blanche DuBois, “Always show your authentic self.”
Elaine’s Literary Salon May 2026
5/2, Saturday, 12-3 p.m., Irene Bennett (Battle of the Artisans)
5/3, Sunday, 6-9 p.m., Hemlock & Hearth Spring event, Southern Gothic-influence fragrance house
5/13, Wednesday, 6-9 p.m., Elizabeth Hodges (I Can’t Have Cancer, I Have Carpool)
5/14, Thursday, 6-9 p.m., Austin Camacho (Mirror Target)
5/27, Wednesday, 6-9 p.m., Sisters-in-Crime Chessie Chapter Happy Hour
5/30, Saturday, 12-3 p.m. David O. Stewart (The Democracy We Must Keep)
