Jeanne Leiby, editor of the Southern Review, has died

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Jeanne Leiby, editor of the Southern Review, died in a single-car crash in Louisiana on Tuesday. She had been editor of the literary journal since 2008, and prior to that was editor of the Florida Review.

The Southern Review, one of the nation’s standout literary journals, was also one that has been challenged in an environment of academic cutbacks at state universities. In 2009, its subsidy from Louisiana State University was cut by 20%.

Leiby, 46, had been trying to navigate those challenges in part by trimming the page count of the magazine and being smart about its online presence. ‘In the end, we’re fine,’ Leiby told Poets & Writers. ‘People are understandably worried about us, but we’re not going anywhere.’

HTMLgiant points out that Leiby was a warm editor, writing this piece in October about calling writers whose work she was accepting for the Southern Review. ‘Maybe we can all do just a little bit more to build the human connections within our community,’ she wrote. ‘If you have any questions, give me a call…’

According to police on the scene of the accident, Leiby was thrown from her car after losing control of it on a highway. She had not been wearing her seatbelt.

-- Carolyn Kellogg