https://www.bethwardwriting.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-06-27 https://www.bethwardwriting.com/about daily 0.75 2026-05-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/a92d9626-fe91-4461-9b8f-d08e05407f45/IMG_4849.jpeg about - Beth Ward is a cultural critic, essayist, and developmental editor writing primarily about books and art, bodies and place, feminism and folklore, with a focus on women’s histories and women’s stories. Her award-winning essays, interviews, and reviews appear widely in publications including Oxford American, Southern Review of Books, The Southeast Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Pleiades: Literature in Context, Hyperallergic, The Rumpus, Bitter Southerner, Cunning Folk, NPR, BUST Magazine, and elsewhere. Beth holds an MFA in narrative media writing from the University of Georgia. Previously the books & film editor for ArtsATL, she currently serves as reviews & interviews editor for Pleiades. She has work forthcoming in American Poetry Review. You can also read No Light Thing, her newsletter on the intersection of culture and desire, on Substack. https://www.bethwardwriting.com/home daily 1.0 2023-07-18 https://www.bethwardwriting.com/editorialservices daily 0.75 2026-05-11 https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing daily 0.75 2026-05-07 https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing/inconversation monthly 0.5 2026-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/7b1dedf4-cda1-4cfe-9d55-0f35c6fbeee2/Sadre-Orafai_23.png selected writing - in conversation I Become More Animal When I'm Grieving: A Conversation with Jenny Sadre-Orafai (The Rumpus) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/313cf203-df2a-4c13-99ca-ec156fdd54d3/HTDN+final.jpg selected writing - in conversation Interestingness is Always There: Talking with Jenny Odell (The Rumpus) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/0bb958aa-a4c1-42bc-8c21-34c61a386e9b/J.+Nicole+Jones+author+photo+-+credit+Ben+Bromley+%281%29.jpg selected writing - in conversation Writing Hurricanes and Conjuring Ghosts: A Conversation with J. Nicole Jones (The Rumpus) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/523d5ff9-09a0-4b88-89aa-b11363f3d247/Shull%2C+The+Reader.jpg selected writing - in conversation The Art of Laura Shull, in Conversation with the Artist (Lover's Eye Press) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/ddae2a41-2d2a-4d58-bfab-7ff7f5864800/cwhm-cover.jpg selected writing - in conversation Poet L.S. McKee explores tensions of love in an era of AI and technology https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/b0057007-baa1-48de-ae98-23397c5ffd5c/Screen+Shot+2022-02-07+at+3.43.04+PM.png selected writing - in conversation New collection explores hidden nuances of Carson McCullers’ short stories (ArtsATL) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/58ff8927-445d-4e2a-ae6a-0f809c5d626a/Other+Girls+to+Burn+cover.jpg selected writing - in conversation Caroline Crew’s essays explore women and violence in “Other Girls To Burn” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/8d5ad220-0d7d-4e0d-a4e3-70b503173dfc/Peach+State+%282%29.jpg selected writing - in conversation Adrienne Su takes a culinary tour of Atlanta in new poetry collection “Peach State” (ArtsATL) https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing/booksandart monthly 0.5 2026-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/25f8ef94-262c-4dbc-8b87-0662db9ad759/dark-sisters-kristi-demeester.png selected writing - books & art “The Dark and the Devil So Close”: Kristi DeMeester’s Historical Feminist Horror, Dark Sisters (Southern Review of Books) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/1b04cafa-d0f2-4974-b8a8-7d357f240ea1/birthdaycakeflannery03_courtesy.jpg selected writing - books & art Artist Blair Hobbs celebrates Flannery O’Connor’s centennial with a new show at Spalding Nix Fine Art (Atlanta Magazine) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/f36065ee-37ac-4252-b3e9-26c178e01876/Screenshot+2024-03-20+at+1.57.26+PM.png selected writing - books & art The Threads of Time and Place (Oxford American) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/ab383e9b-3e85-410b-b558-353d3a64cae2/Cover-art-1-768x1152.jpg selected writing - books & art Choking Toward Life: Beth Ward on Didi Jackson's My Infinity (Pleiades: Literature in Context) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/89741473-0622-4c8f-ae4a-e2ebf14b737f/ACS_0382.jpeg selected writing - books & art Thoughts About the Work: A Critical Essay for Phyllis Alterman Franco: The Collected Works (Poem 88 EDITIONS, 2024, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/50786fc8-76f4-4ace-b0d5-25f854eb5729/1987.143-Bing-1082x1000.jpg selected writing - books & art Underexposed: Women Photographers from the Collection at the High Museum of Art (Burnaway) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/6eca028c-7978-4ef0-9995-82e4b7f7367e/Danielle-Dutton_cover.png selected writing - books & art What We're Reading: Reviewing Prairie, Dresses, Art, Other (Cunning Folk) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/23cac246-f193-4d0a-97e2-c69e62c435eb/this+ragged+grae.jpeg selected writing - books & art What We're Reading: Reviewing This Ragged Grace by Octavia Bright (Cunning Folk) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/78dddc8f-1960-485a-a7ac-6939b94d92a3/Julia-131.jpeg selected writing - books & art The Real Blanche DuBois (The Bitter Southerner) https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing/folklore monthly 0.5 2026-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/217ff3de-ac98-4717-8441-2b844234f37b/IMG_5440.jpeg selected writing - folklore & esoterica On Ithell Colquhoun: In Conversation with Dr. Amy Hale (Cunning Folk, Sound & Vision issue, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/28574fd0-3877-4a46-8c97-0368b1356eae/IMG_3446+%281%29.jpg selected writing - folklore & esoterica Matriarch of Darkness (Suspira Magazine, Fetish Issue, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/a4acddab-8700-4cf8-98c4-98e6054e5d6d/IMG_3448.jpg selected writing - folklore & esoterica Sea-born: Women in Magic and Myth (Cunning Folk, Water issue, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/5047e678-6faa-423f-b9f8-58ebffe50f64/7a6a42b02bf179854c_plants.jpeg selected writing - folklore & esoterica The Long Tradition of Folk Healing Among Southern Appalachian Women (Atlas Obscura) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/3b6a2aba-3ed4-4087-8bd4-efdc62bede09/IMG_3449.jpg selected writing - folklore & esoterica Home Fires: Hearth Goddesses, Vestal Virgins, and Belonging to Oneself (Cunning Folk, Fire Issue, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/9f7eaffe-efa3-4b83-a812-78fcb122910d/IMG_3450.jpg selected writing - folklore & esoterica Bite Me (Suspira Magazine, Vampire Issue, print) https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing/creativenonfiction monthly 0.5 2026-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/99c8dff9-6f76-4405-8096-7fdb658c3502/7b2177_8a538c1f6cef482aa8bf709807cd8f45%7Emv2.png selected writing - creative nonfiction Holy Appetites (Southeast Review) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/06484e86-79c3-42a7-aaf1-d125c425311b/Tezza-4772.jpg selected writing - creative nonfiction Knockout (Iron Horse Literary Review, print) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/27a83f86-cdb0-4f30-b907-79f35b81271e/CDm%2B34_1.jpeg selected writing - creative nonfiction What Power (Pigeon Pages Literary Journal) https://www.bethwardwriting.com/writing/otherstories monthly 0.5 2026-05-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/ea25da47-231c-4bce-88eb-7c0b604eb0a0/0718_Bees_KellyKline_oneuseonly.jpg selected writing - miscellany At Georgia’s Arrendale State Prison, Women Inmates Forge a Bond by Keeping Bees (Atlanta Magazine) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/620157f470103a63298d1ff0/69218e4d-c899-4ee9-a582-d3c7dcba8930/5AS_20200623_5AS00836.webp selected writing - miscellany From the Soil Up (Bitter Southerner)