When Kirby Smart returned to his alma mater in 2016, hopes were high that he could take Georgia football to that elusive next level. Smart wasted no time putting his mark on the Bulldogs, however, making an immediate impact on recruiting and in 2017, reaching the College Football Playoff and coming within moments of a national championship. Biding his time and crafting his philosophy as a defensive coordinator under Nick Saban, Smart waited for his opportunity to return to Georgia, turning...

The Spring 2021 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and remains prescient in the digital age by providing readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”As guest-editor Laura van den Berg writes in her introduction, “At its core, literatu...