Nobody’s Home: Modern Southern Folklore is an online anthology of nonfiction works about beliefs, myths, and narratives in Southern culture over the last fifty years, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  The project, created in 2020 by writer-editor Foster Dickson, collects personal essays, memoirs, short articles, opinion pieces, and contemplative works about the ideas, experiences, and assumptions that have shaped life below the old Mason-Dixon Line since 1970. 

The Open Submissions Period begins on April 15, 2024.

To browse and read the anthology’s works, visit the Index page. Or to learn more about the project, you can read the editor’s March 2020 intro, “Myths are the truths we live by,” or his outro after the initial compilation, “There was never one South.” You can also read posts on the editor’s blog Groundwork either here or on Medium. To keep up with what is happening in the project, either like the project’s Facebook page or follow on X (Twitter).

The anthology’s initial compilation was completed between October 2020 and September 2021. However, its offerings continue to grow and evolve. Lesson plans have been provided to help teachers to use the essays in secondary education classrooms, and the editor offers his suggestions for readings and documentaries that could serve as resources. Four batches of new essays have been added to the anthology in 2022 and 2023. Submissions of book reviews and interviews will continue to be considered year-round, while the open submissions period for creative nonfiction works will be from April 15 through June 15 each year. For those writers who are interested in submitting, please read the guidelines.