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Dawn Major is the Associate Editor at Southern Literary Review and the creative mind behind SouthernRead–a Contemporary Accent on Southern Writing. She actively works to preserve the legacy of the late, Southern, author, William Gay, by editing and promoting his posthumous works, and serves as a team member with the William Gay Archive

Dawn received her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Etowah Valley Writing Program at Reinhardt University, a Creative Writing Certification from Emory Continuing Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kennesaw State University. She was previously awarded a fellowship as the assistant literary editor of the James Dickey Review. In 2019, her nonfiction piece, “White Trash,” won the Dr. Robert Driscoll Award for Excellence in Writing on Regional Themes and her short story, “Nativity,” won the Faculty Choice Award from her MFA program at Reinhardt University–also for Excellence in Writing.

In 2020 & 2021, Dawn presented on the artwork and prose of William Gay at Georgia Center for the Book’s Lost Southern Voices Festival. Amidst the pandemic, she participated in Wren’s Nest Scribes, a one-on-one mentoring program that teaches middle school children how to write creative fiction–the anthology debuts annually during the Decatur Book Festival. In 2019, Dawn served as a panel judge at the Milton Literary Festival-Young Adults Contest. Also, in 2019, Dawn collaborated and performed with musicians at the Contemporary Arts Festival held at the Falany Performing Arts Center. She was a presenter at Georgia State University’s 2019 New Voice Graduate Conference. She has read with American Sign Language Interpreters, written and acted in Reader’s Theater at Reinhardt University’s Black Box Theatre, and has collaborated with historians to write scripts for Oakland Cemetery’s Sunday in the Park event–a living history project where the ghostly residents come back from the dead to share their stories. She has enjoyed writing poetry-themed podcast for radio with melodically challenged on GSU’s Album 88, College Radio as well as reading on NPR- Dante’s Old South. She has lectured and taught creative writing workshops.

Dawn is a current member of the Georgia Writers Association, Broadleaf Writers Association, Horror Writers Association, as well as Atlanta Writers Club. She actively participates in annual writing conferences and monthly critique groups.

In the past few years, Dawn has turned her attention to the literary horror genre and has mentored with horror authors, Tim Waggoner and Stephanie Ellis. She is steadily working on her novella–One Man’s Walmart is Another Man’s Graveyard. Her debut novel, The Bystanders, will be released Spring 2023 by Moonshine Cove Publishing.