Everything That We’ve Buried

Everything We’ve Buried and Other Stories is the winner of the 2025 Converse MFA Alumni Book Prize.

In these nine stories, Kyler S. Campbell sets out to capture the southern imagination and experience. Characters deal with loss, family, faith, doubt, and poverty in both subtle and violent ways. Each character is wholly shaped by their environment and seeking redemption or understanding. In “How Will They Remember You?” a father and son are drafted into the Civil War and wrestle with their own legacies and thirst for violence. “Everything That We’ve Buried” follows a sheriff’s deputy coming to terms with his own repressed rage after the wrongful death of his brother. “Flood Lines” depicts two girls exploring a flooded mall and their own experiences with faith. Finally, “The Last Dreamer” is a paranormal southern gothic novella wherein a young boy is stalked by an ancient spirit as he comes to terms with his mother’s recent suicide. These stories are love letters to the author’s own struggles, doubts, and triumphs. They are born out of the Low Country of South Carolina and seek to capture the beauty and tragedy of the southern experience.