WordShops registration is open! Learn about the festival's master-class writing workshops and reserve your seat here.

This website has a .gov link

The .gov means it’s official.

Louisiana government websites often end in .gov. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a Louisiana government site.

HTTPS Connection

The site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Carrie Lee South

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2026 Carrie Lee South

Carrie Lee South earned her MFA at the Arkansas Writers Workshop where she served as the fiction editor for the literary magazine Arkana. She’s currently the fiction editor at StoryBottle Co. Her work has appeared in Waxwing, F(r)iction, Iron Horse Literary Review, Tales to Terrify, and elsewhere. When she’s not reading and writing, she’s spending time with birds—the ones outside and the four parrots that live in her house.

 

Schedule

Will be posted when available.

In the Woods They Wait: A Novel

Years ago, she lost her brother. Now the woods have taken another.

From a powerful new voice, a story that's at once a haunting southern gothic and a satisfying page-turner, perfect for fans of Stephen King and Liz Moore alike.

“Monstrously satisfying.” ― Nat Cassidy, author of When the Wolf Comes Home 

“Beautifully written, with a terrifying secret at its heart.” ― Elizabeth Hand, author of A Haunting on the Hill

Fifteen years ago, Audrey Figg's little brother, Benny, vanished on a family vacation to Devil's Den state park, a day that split her life in two. Now, Audrey is a park ranger in the very same woods with expertise in wilderness search and rescue. Audrey has found a rhythm to her days: training new rangers, tending to injured hikers, protecting the backcountry, and still, searching.

When a little girl, Ivy, suddenly goes missing on the trails, Audrey can’t help but notice the similarities to her own brother’s case. As Audrey widens the scope of her search, she begins to believe Ivy wasn't merely lost; it looks like she was taken by something―and maybe Benny was too. Yet the closer Audrey comes to answers, the more old memories push to the surface. Audrey is haunted not only by her brother's loss, but a terrible secret from that day. A secret she has never shared with anyone.

Utterly absorbing and disquieting, In the Woods They Wait is an enthralling page-turner, one that asks how far you would go for a sense of closure―and what would you be willing to face to get it.