(Columbia, SC) – The heat is on and Southern Indie booksellers are cooking up a sizzling plate of summer Okra Picks! The 2016 Summer Okra Picks have just been selected–a hearty helping of great summer reading that will make your beach book bag look a little more nutritious. They're a baker’s dozen of great books representing the best in forthcoming southern lit, according to the people who would know–Southern independent booksellers. 

All the picks have a strong Southern focus and are publishing between July and September 2016, and all have fans among Southern booksellers: the people always on the lookout for the next great writer who belongs in your to-be-read stack. So on your next Southern Indie bookstore visit, expect to hear “You’ve got to read this!” and find one of these titles in your hands. Great books are always good for you!

The 2016 Summer Okra Picks   

The Cantaloupe Thief 
by Deb Richardson-Moore
Lion Fiction, July 2016   
Fiction, 9781782641926

The Promise of Jesse Woods
by Chris Fabry
Tyndale House Publishers, July 2016
Fiction, 9781414387772

Underground Airlines
by Ben Winters
Mulholland Books, July 2016
Fiction, 9780316261241

Let the Devil Out: A Maureen Coughlin Novel
by Bill Loehfelm
Sarah Crichton Books, July 2016
Fiction, 9780374298579

Lowcountry Book Club
by Susan M. Boyer
Henery Press, July 2016
Fiction, 9781635110456

Ninety-Nine Stories of God
by Joy Williams
Tin House Books, July 2016
Fiction, 9781941040355

The Heavenly Table
by Donald Ray Pollock
Doubleday Books, July 2016
Fiction, 9780385541299

Cotton 
by Paul Heald
Yucca Publishing, July 2016
Fiction, 9781631580864

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race
by Jesmyn Ward
Scribner Book Company, August 2016
Nonfiction, 9781501126345

The Risen
by Ron Rash
Ecco Press, September 2016
Fiction, 9780062436313

Perfume River
by Robert Olen Butler
Atlantic Monthly Press, September 2016
Fiction, 9780802125750

Nine Island
by Jane Alison
Catapult, September 2016
Fiction, 9781936787128

Darktown
by Thomas Mullen
Atria, September 2016
Fiction, 9781501133862

Okra Picks are chosen every season by Southern Independent Bookstores. For more information visit authorsroundthesouth.com/okra.