Hey, y’all! I’m Arlon.
(But my mama calls me Jay.)

I’m a Southern writer living in the Florida Panhandle, at my best when telling a story or helping you tell yours.

My debut novel, Leta Pearl’s Love Biscuits is coming out October 7, 2025.

While you wait, subscribe to The Southerner’s Primer: Sweeten Your Life in 5 Days, a free and fun 5-day email course—full of Southern wisdom and wit—that I wrote just for y’all. (You’ll also be auto-subscribed to my free monthly newsletter, Grits & Lit.)

Hit me up directly right here.
Or make yourself at home and click around to learn more.

My limited repertoire of party tricks is best seen on Instagram @arlonjay.

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View fullsize P R O S E P O R N // “She found the judge gazing down at his mother’s hand mirror, eyes aglow. From the other side of the room he looked forty years old—okay, fifty. You had to get close to see the ruin of years in his face. He had
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View fullsize P R O S E P O R N // “Jamie looks at her in shock and she swallows the impulse to say: What? Instead she smiles. It’s not like she’s the world’s best-looking person, far from it. In certain photographs she appears not only pla
View fullsize H U M B L E D // 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 @nytimes 💙 So many of you have shared your own experiences with love, loss, boundaries, and connection, and
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