"Now, Appalachia": Recent Episodes
Eliot Parker
Welcome to Now Appalachia Radio with host and thriller author Eliot Parker. The show will profile Appalachian writers and creative people.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jake Maynard about his debut novel SLIME LINE. Jake Maynard is a writer from rural Pennsylvania whose stories and essays appear in Guernica, Southern Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Electric Lit, The New Republic, The New York Times, and others. His experiences working in the commercial fishing industry inspired his debut novel, Slime Line.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Bobi Conn about her new novel SOMEPLACE LIKE HOME. Bobi Conn is the author of A Woman in Time and the memoir In the Shadow of the Valley. Born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, Bobi developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. She also attended graduate school, where she earned a master’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, telling jokes, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell W. Johnson about his latest novel THE MOUNTAIN MYSTIC. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association’s Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft’s Cinematic Novel competition.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Ellen Burkett Morris about her debut novel BEWARE THE TALL GRASS. Morris is also the author of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals and in eight anthologies. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. Her poem “Abide” was featured on NPR’s A Way with Words. Her essays have appeared in Newsweek, AARP’s The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio. Morris holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University-Charlotte and lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author MB Mooney about his latest speculative fiction novel THE SHIELD OF THE KING. MB Mooney believes Great Stories Change the World, and he loves to live and tell great stories. In the 2nd grade, Mooney was bored and getting in trouble, so his teacher said, “Why don’t you write me a story?” He’s been writing science fiction and fantasy stories ever since. Check out his YouTube channel, Great Stories Change the World, for reviews and tips on writing. MB Mooney lives in the Atlanta, GA area with his amazing wife, three creative kids, and a mischievous dog. You will often find him fueled by coffee and rocking out to heavy metal when he writes.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author John Copenhaver about his latest novel HALL OF MIRRORS. won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery for Dodging and Burning and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery for The Savage Kind. He is a co-founder of Queer Crime Writers and an at-large board member of Mystery Writers of America. He cohosts on the House of Mystery Radio Show. He’s a faculty mentor in the University of Nebraska’s Low-Residency MFA program and teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Karen Spears Zacharias about her new novel NO PERFECT MOTHERS. Karen Spears Zacharias is an American writer whose work focuses on women and justice. She holds an MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University and an MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland. She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon. Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews western author R.G. Yoho about his latest western BITTER WATER. R.G. Yoho is a West Virginia native with a passion for history and tales of the American West. Raised on a cattle farm, he is the prolific author of multiple Western novels, along with works of fiction and nonfiction. Yoho is a former president of the West Virginia Writers. Living with his wife near the banks of the Ohio River, Yoho is also a proud member of the Western Writers of America.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Carter Taylor Seaton about her latest novel GUILT. Carter Taylor Seaton is the author of three novels: Father's Troubles (Mid-Atlantic Highlands Pub, 2022); amo, amas, amat.an unconventional love story (CreateSpace Independent, 2011); and The Other Morgans (Koehler Books, 2020), as well as numerous magazine articles, and several essays and short stories. Her non-fiction works include Hippie Homesteaders (West Virginia University Press, 2014), The Rebel in the Red Jeep (West Virginia University Press, 2017), Me and Mary Ann (2018), and We Were Legends In Our Own Minds (Mountain State Press, Inc., 2020).
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Chris McGinley about his new novel ONCE THESE HILLS. Chris lives in Lexington, Kentucky where he writes crime fiction set in the hills of Appalachia and teaches middle school social studies and English. His story "Hellbenders" made the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2018" list in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES of 2019. His work has appeared in Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Tough, Pulp Modern, Switchblade, and on other sites and outlets. COAL BLACK (Shotgun Honey Books) is his first collection.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Susan Zurenda about her second novel THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL. Susan taught English for thirty-three years to college and high school students. Her debut novel, BELLS FOR ELI, has received several awards including first place for Best First Book--Fiction in the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Zurenda has also published and won numerous awards for her short fiction. A life-long South Carolinian, she lives in Spartanburg.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, David Joy returns to the program to discuss his latest novel THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW. David is the author of When These Mountains Burn (winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award), The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kelly Ford about her latest thriller THE HUNT. Kelly Ford is the author of Real Bad Things and the award-winning Cottonmouths, a novel of “impressive depths of character and setting” according to the Los Angeles Review, which named it one of its Best Books of 2017. An Arkansas native, Kelly writes crime fiction set in the Ozarks and the Arkansas River Valley.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back author Meagan Lucas to talk about her new short story collection HERE IN THE DARK. Meagan Lucas is the author of the award-winning novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs (2019) and the forthcoming collection, Here in the Dark (Shotgun Honey, July 2023). Meagan’s short work can be found in places like Santa Fe Writers’ Project, Still: The Journal, Bull Magazine, Change Seven, and Pithead Chapel. Meagan is Pushcart, Best of the Net, Derringer, and Canadian Crime Writers’ Award of Excellence nominated, won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction, and Songbirds and Stray Dogs was North Carolina’s selection for the Library of Congress Center for the Book’s 2022 Route 1 Reads program. She teaches Creative Writing at Robert Morris University and is the Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review. Born and raised on a small island in Northern Ontario, she now calls the mountains of Western North Carolina home.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author M. Hendrix about her young adult debut novel THE CHAPERONE. M Hendrix is the author of two previous books. She lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with her husband, novelist David Bell. The Chaperone is her YA debut.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jim Minick about his latest non-fiction work: WITHOUT WARNING: THE TORNADO OF UDALL, KANSAS. Jim is the author or editor of seven books, including the award-winning Fire Is Your Water and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Poets and Writers, Oxford American, Orion, and Shenandoah.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Susan O'Dell Underwood about her latest collection titled SPLINTER. Susan O'Dell Underwood is a native of East Tennessee, where she has lived most of her life. She's the director of creative writing at Carson-Newman University. She has published one earlier collection, The Book of Awe (Iris Press, 2018), a novel, Genesis Road (Madville Publishing, 2022), and two chapbooks. Her poems and fiction have appeared in journals and anthologies such as A Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Oxford American, Alaska Quarterly Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Still: The Journal.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Farris Smith about his latest novel SALVAGE THIS WORLD. Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has also written the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell Johnson about his latest crime thriller THE MOONSHINE MESSIAH: A MOUNTAINEER MYSTERY. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association’s Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft’s Cinematic Novel competition.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio crime fiction author Andrew Welsh-Huggins about his latest thriller THE END OF THE ROAD. Andrew is a former reporter for the Associated Press, editor of “Columbus Noir” and author of the Andy Hayes detective series; “An Empty Grave,” the seventh book, was nominated for a Shamus Award in the Best Original Paperback PI Novel category by the Private Eye Writers of America.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Travis Rountree about his new book "Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia's Most Notorious Shoot-Out."Travis an assistant professor of English at Western Carolina University. His writings have appeared in North Carolina Folklore Journal, Appalachian Journal, Journal of Southern History, and Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining and Writing the Unspeakable Other.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews suspense and thriller writer Trace Conger about his new book THE WICKED SIDE. Trace Conger is an award-winning author in the crime, thriller, and suspense genres. He writes the Connor Harding (Thriller) series and the Mr. Finn (PI) series. His Connor Harding series follows freelance “Mirage Man” Connor Harding as he solves problems for the world’s most dangerous criminals. The Mr. Finn series follows private investigator Finn Harding as he straddles the fine line between right and wrong. Conger won a Shamus Award for his debut novel, THE SHADOW BROKER. His suspense novella, THE WHITE BOY, won the Fresh Ink Award for Best Novella of 2020.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Affrilachian poet, educator, and children's book author Frank X. Walker about his latest children's book A IS FOR AFFRILACHIA. A native of Danville, Kentucky, Frank X Walker is the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate. Walker has published eleven collections of poetry, including Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which was awarded the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Poetry and the Black Caucus American Library Association Honor Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, winner of the 2004 Lillian Smith Book Award, and Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride, which he adapted for stage, earning him the Paul Green Foundation Playwrights Fellowship Award. His poetry was also dramatized for the 2016 Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV and staged by Message Theater for the 2015 Breeders Cup Festival.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with historian Lindsay Chervinsky about the latest book she edited with Dr. Matthew Costello titled MOURNING THE PRESIDENTS: LOSS ANS LEGACY IN AMERICAN CULTURE. Lindsay is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Presidential Studies at Southern Methodist University and she teaches about the presidency at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. Her columns can be found at Governing and Washington Monthly, and she contributes to the Washington Post, USA Today, Ms. Magazine, the Bulwark, NBC Think!, the Wall Street Journal, TIME, The Hill, and CNN. In her spare time, she loves hiking with her American Foxhound, John Quincy Dog Adams (Quincy for short).
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with editor and nonfiction author Wendy Welch about her latest book "Masks, Misinformation, and Making Do: Appalachian Health-Care Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic." Wendy is the executive director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium and the author, coauthor, or editor of six books, including Fall or Fly: The Strangely Hopeful Story of Foster Care and Adoption in Appalachia (also from Ohio University Press). She advocates for social justice in health care and other critical areas of development across Appalachia.--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eliot-parker/support
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews fiction author Ramona Reeves about her latest short story collection IT FALLS GENTLY ALL AROUND, winner of the 2022 True Heinz Literature Prize. Ramona grew up in Alabama. She has won the Nancy D. Hargrove Editors’ Prize and been an A Room of Her Own fellow and a resident at the Kimmel Nelson Harding Center for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in the Southampton Review, New South, Bayou Magazine, Texas Highways, and others.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Mary Hazen Ynigues about her new book CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE MOUNTAIN STATE. Mary is a is a pun poet who believes in the moxie of the Mountain State! She served on Elkins City Council and earned two degrees in history with a thesis on an Appalachian Mine Wars community. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Marly lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, with her spouse Keola and their cats.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with horror author Andy Davidson about his latest novel THE HOLLOW KIND. Andy is the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman's Daughter, which was listed among NPR's Best Books of 2020, the New York Public Library's Best Adult Books of the Year, and Library Journal's Best Horror of 2020. Born and raised in Arkansas, he makes his home in Georgia with his wife and a bunch of cats.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Sara Moore Wagner about her latest collection HILLBILLY MADONNA. Sara is the author of Swan Wife (winner of the 2021 Cider Press Review Editor's Prize), a recipient of a 2022 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, a 2021 National Poetry Series Finalist, and the recipient of a 2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation award. She is the author of the chapbooks Tumbling After (Redbird, 2022) and Hooked Through (Five Oaks Press, 2017). Her poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies including Sixth Finch, Waxwing, Nimrod, Western Humanities Review, Tar River Poetry, and The Cincinnati Review, among others. She lives in West Chester, OH with her filmmaker husband Jon and their children, Daisy, Vivienne, and Cohen.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews YA author Kevin Dunn about his latest book VICIOUS IS MY MIDDLE NAME. Kevin is in several bands, runs a small record label, publishes zines, and writes for Razorcake magazine. He also works at a small liberal arts college, where he teaches and publishes on a range of topics from African politics to international relations to global punk. He and his family split their time between Western New York state and Western North Carolina. Vicious is My Middle Name is his first novel.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Thomas Richardson. Thomas is a teacher and writer. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and raised in Columbus, Mississippi, he earned his bachelor's degree from Millsaps College and master's degrees from Vanderbilt University and Mississippi University for Women. He teaches English at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science in Columbus, where he resides with his wife Hillary, son Emmett, and their pets.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with author and linguist Dr. Michael Rost about his latest book THE JOURNEY HOME: PORTRAITS OF HEALING. Michael is a renowned American linguist, specializing in psycholinguistics, language acquisition, language loss, in dementia. He has worked on language project in multiple countries and government institutions. Formerly a professor of linguistics, he currently lives in San Francisco as an independent scholar and author.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Rebecca Bernard about her new short story collection OUR SISTER WHO WILL NOT DIE. Rebecca is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Angelo State University. Her work has appeared in Colorado Review, Southwest Review, Juked, Pleiades, and elsewhere and has been recognized in Best American Short Stories.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Culley Holderfield about his debut novel HEMLOCK HOLLOW. Culley learned to love storytelling on the porch of a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he ventured to South America, Africa, and Europe. When not writing or working in community development finance, he spends his time hiking, paddling, and pondering in the outdoors. His short stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications. Hemlock Hollowis his debut novel. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews mystery author Kelly J. Ford about her latest novel REAL BAD THINGS. Kelly J. Ford is the author of the award-winning Cottonmouths, a novel of “impressive depths of character and setting” according to the Los Angeles Review, which named it one of their Best Books of 2017.
An Arkansas native, Kelly writes about the power and pitfalls of friendship, the danger of long-held secrets, and the transcendent grittiness of the Ozarks and their surrounds. She lives in Vermont with her wife and cat.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot profiles publisher Orison Books with founder Luke Hankins. Luke Hankins is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Radiant Obstacles and Weak Devotions, as well as a forthcoming chapbook, Testament (Texas Review Press, 2024). He is also the author of a collection of essays, The Work of Creation, and is the editor of Poems of Devotion: An Anthology of Recent Poets. A volume of his translations from the French of Stella Vinitchi Radulescu, A Cry in the Snow & Other Poems, was published by Seagull Books in 2019. Hankins is a graduate of the Indiana University MFA program, where he held the Yusef Komunyakaa Fellowship in Poetry.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with author Christopher Kelder about his new book THE SECRET OF COBB CREEK: A DEPRESSION ERA STORY OF E. KENTUCKY. Christopher lives in Lexington, Kentucky and is an award winning filmmaker as well as the author of several children's books. This book is his most recent work.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Zach Steele about his new novel THE WEIGHT OF ASHES. Broadleaf Writers Association Founder & Executive Director Zachary Steeleis the author of Anointed: The Passion of Timmy Christ, CEO and Flutter: An Epic of Mass Distraction. He has been featured by NPR, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publishers Weekly, Baby Got Books, Shelf Awareness, and was nominated for the Sidewise Award for Alternate Fiction.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back author John Vercher to talk about his new novel AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT. John lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He has a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He is a contributing writer for WBUR Boston’s Cognoscenti, and NPR features his essays on race, identity, and parenting. His debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune, CrimeReads, and Booklist. It was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards for Best First Novel.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews journalist Ronnie Greene about his latest book HEART OF ATLANTA: FIVE BLACK PASTORS AND THE SUPREME COURT VICTORY FOR INTEGRATION. Ronnie is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and a veteran investigative reporter, who, over the years, has worked at the Center for Public Integrity, the Associated Press, and the Miami Herald. He is currently in the DC bureau of Reuters as Washington enterprise editor. He is the author of Shots on the Bridge, a narrative of the police shootings of unarmed innocents on the Danziger Bridge in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina; and Night Fire, an exposé of Shell Oil's toxic waste pollution of the African American district of Norco, LA, a company town.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Sheila Myers about her new novel THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE. Sheila Myers is an award-winning author and college professor in Upstate New York. Her penchant for research and meanderings through the wilderness, lakes, mountains, and vistas (and the occasional trip to a cemetery) in the U.S. and abroad, inspire her novels and short stories. She is adapting her stories to screenplays.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Scott Blackburn about his new thriller novel IT DIES WITH YOU. Scott is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview MFA program. He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife and two children. When he is not writing and teaching, Scott enjoys training in combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Ju-jitsu, in which he holds a black belt.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Eliot interviews co-hosts of the Pantsuit Politics podcast as well as authors Beth Silvers and Sarah Stewart Holland. In addition to the podcast, they are the authors of "Now What?: How to Move Forward When We're Divided (About Basically Everything)." Sarah attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and later received her Juris Doctor from American University. Sarah began her career as a congressional staffer, campaign aide, and blogger and social media consultant. She lives in Paducah, Kentucky. Beth s cohost with Sarah Stewart Holland of the popular podcast Pantsuit Politics and also coauthored I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation. She attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and later received her Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky. Beth has practiced law and served as a human resources executive and business coach. She lives in Union, Kentucky, and serves on several local boards of directors.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with author Jamie Lyn Smith about her latest book TOWNSHIP. Jamie Lyn Smith is a writer, editor, and teacher. She earned her BA in English and Theatre from Kenyon College, her Masters in Education from Fordham University, and her MFA in Creative Writing from Ohio State University. Jamie Lyn is the Fiction Editor at BreakBread Magazine and a Consulting Editor for The Kenyon Review. Her work has appeared in The Pinch, Mississippi Review, The Kenyon Review, American Literary Review, Yemassee, Bayou, and others, and she is the recipient of a 2020 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in fiction.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Valerie Nieman about her latest novel IN THE LONELY BACKWATER. Valerie has been a farmer, a sailor, a journalist, a teacher. To the Bones, a genre-bending novel about Appalachia, was published by West Virginia University Press in 2019, joining three earlier novels, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books. Her award-winning poetry and short prose have been published here and abroad. A graduate of WVU and Queens University of Charlotte, she has held state and NEA creative writing fellowships.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio author Michael Wayne Hampton about his new novel DREAM KIDS. Michael Wayne Hampton is the author of five books of fiction. His criticism, essays, fiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous publications such as Atticus Review, The Southeast Review, 3AM Magazine, and Fiction Southeast.In 2013 he won The Deerbird Novella Prize, and in 2012 his work was nominated for Best American Short Stories. In the past he has been a semi-finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Prize, and a two-time finalist for the World's Best Short Short Story Contest. In 2014, he was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jess Montgomery about her latest novel THE ECHOES. Jess writes a Writer's Digest magazine column, "Level Up Your Writing (Life)" and was formerly the “Literary Life” columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Based on early chapters of the first book in the Kinship Series, The Widows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist’s grant for literary arts and named the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She also hosts the podcast, “Tea with Jess: Chatting with Authors & Artists.” Jess lives in her native state of Ohio.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Virginia historian Jonathan White about his new book: A HOUSE BUILT BY SLAVES: AFRICAN AMERICAN VISITORS TO THE WHITE HOUSE. Jonathan White is associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University. He is the author of ten books and over 100 articles, essays, and reviews on Lincoln and the Civil War. His writing has appeared in Smithsonian, Time, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He lives in Newport News, Virginia.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Nancy Allen about her novel RENEGADE. Nancy Allen, author of the Ozarks Mystery Series, practiced law for fifteen years as Assistant Missouri Attorney General and Assistant Prosecutor in her native Ozarks. She’s tried over thirty jury cases, including murder and sexual offenses, and is now a law instructor at Missouri State University. Her debut novel, a legal thriller entitled The Code of the Hills, was published in 2014 by HarperCollins/Witness, followed by A Killing at the Creek (2015), The Wages of Sin (2016) and A Wolf in the Woods (2018).
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Robert Gwaltney about his novel THE CICADA TREE. Robert Gwaltney, a writer of southern fiction, is a graduate of Florida State University. He resides in Atlanta Georgia where he is an active member of the Atlanta literary community. By day, he serves as Vice President of Easter Seals North Georgia, Inc., Children Services, a non-profit supporting children with disabilities and other special needs. Robert’s work has appeared in such publications as The Signal Mountain Review and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Robert also serves as Prose Editor for The Blue Mountain Review.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jessica Weible about her new non-fiction book DEAD LETTERS: DELIVERING OPENED MAIL FROM A PENNSYLVANIA GHOST TOWN. Jess Weible is a freelance writer and reporter. She is also a founding editor for The Watershed Journal, an inclusive, regional literary magazine for the western Pennsylvania wilds. Jess leads two writing groups, the Writer’s Block Party and the Rebecca M. Arthur’s Young Writers. She lives with her husband and two boys in Brookville, Pennsylvania.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews science fiction author J.V. Hilliard about his latest book THE LAST KEEPER. Born of steel, fire, and black wind, J.V. Hilliard was raised as a highlander in the foothills of a once-great mountain chain on the confluence of the three mighty rivers that forged his realm’s wealth and power for generations.
His father, a peasant dwarf, toiled away in industries of honest labor and instilled in him a work ethic that would shape his destiny. His mother, a local healer, cared for his elders and his warrior uncle, who helped to raise him during his formative years. His genius brother, whose wizardly prowess allowed him to master the art of the abacus and his own quill, trained with him for battles on fields of green and sheets of ice.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Kentucky author Ashley Blooms about her latest novel WHERE I CAN'T FOLLOW. Ashley Blooms is the author of Every Bone a Prayer, which was long-listed for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize and which NPR said “bears within its pages striking beauty and strangeness in equal measure.” Her second novel, Where I Can’t Follow, will be published by Sourcebooks in February 2022.
Born and raised in Cutshin, Kentucky, Blooms received her MFA as a John and Renee Grisham Fellow at the University of Mississippi. Her short stories have appeared in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Strange Horizons, among others. Her nonfiction has appeared in the Oxford American.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio poet laureate, Keri Gunter-Seymour. Five times a Pushcart nominee, Kari Gunter-Seymour's work can be found in many fine journals, anthologies and publications - Rattle, Still, CALYX, Main Street Rag, The American Journal of Poetry and The LA Times- as well as on her website: http://www.karigunterseymourpoet.com. Her latest chapbook Serving (Crisis Chronicles Press) was released in 2018. She is the founder/executive director of the Women of Appalachia Project, (www.womenofappalachia.com), a recently retired Instructor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and Immediate Past Poet Laureate for Athens, Ohio.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Virginia author John Copenhaver about his latest book THE SAVAGE KIND. John is the author of Dodging and Burning, which won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and garnered Anthony, Strand Critics, Barry, and Lambda Literary Award nominations. Copenhaver writes a crime fiction review column for Lambda Literary called “Blacklight,” is a co-host on the House of Mystery Radio Show, and is the six-time recipient of Artist Fellowships from the Washington, DC, Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He’s a Larry Neal awardee, and his work has appeared in CrimeReads, Electric Lit, Glitterwolf, PANK, New York Journal of Books, Washington Independent Review of Books. He lives in Richmond, VA, with his husband, artist Jeffery Paul.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews children's author and illustrator Ashley Belote. She earned her BFA from Alderson Broaddus University and then completed the Whole Book Approach Course through Simmons College at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. She earned her Masters degree in Arts Administration through the University of Kentucky. Her illustration debut FRANKENSLIME is being published by Feiwel & Friends in July 2021. She lives in Davidson, North Carolina, where she happily creates artwork from her home studio.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Yasmin Angoe about her debut thriller HER NAME IS KNIGHT. Hailing from Northern Virginia, Yasmin Angoe is a first-generation Ghanaian American who grew up in two cultural worlds. She taught English in middle and high schools for years, served as an instructional coach for virtual teachers, and spent time as a freelance copy editor. Angoe recently received the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for emerging writers of color from Sisters of Crime, of which she’s a proud member. When she’s not writing, she’s in South Carolina with her beautiful blended family, trying new recipes and absorbed in an audiobook.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to author Tyler Barton about his latest collection of short stories, ETERNAL NIGHT AT THE NATURE MUSEUM. Tyler Barton is a literary advocate and cofounder of Fear No Lit, home of the Submerging Writer Fellowship. His fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, Subtropics, and elsewhere. He's earned honors from Kenyon Review, The Chicago Review of Books, Pheobe Journal, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction 2020 and Best Small Fictions 2020. His collection of flash fiction, The Quiet Part Loud, was published by Split Lip Press in 2019. He lives in Lancaster, PA.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Amos Cody. Michael Amos Cody grew up in the village of Walnut, jewel of Madison County, North Carolina, not far from the ruins of Runion, a place he has reimagined for stories appearing in Yemassee, Tampa Review, Still, and other publications, as well as in his first novel Gabriel's Songbook (Pisgah Press 2017). He lives with his wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.
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On the latest edition of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kimi Cunningham Grant. Kimi is the author of Fallen Mountains, Silver Like Dust, and These Silent Woods. Kimi is a two-time winner of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Poetry and a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in creative nonfiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in Fathom, Literary Mama, RATTLE, Poet Lore, and Whitefish Review. She lives, writes, and teaches in Pennsylvania.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jayne Waldrop about her new novel DROWNED TOWN. Jayne Waldrop is a western Kentucky native who is the author of Retracing My Steps, a finalist in the 2018 New Women's Voices Chapbook Contest, and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems. Waldrop's work has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Still: The Journal, Appalachian Review, New Madrid Review, Deep South Magazine, New Limestone Review, Women Speak, and other literary journals. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with author Matthew Pearl about his latest book "The Taking of Jemima Boone." His novels have been international and New York Timesbestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. His nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times,the Boston Globe, The Atavist Magazine, and Slate. The New York Daily News raves "if the past is indeed a foreign country, Matthew Pearl has your passport." Matthew has been chosen Best Author for Boston Magazine's Best of Boston and received the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. The Taking of Jemima Boone is his nonfiction debut.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews journalist Stephen Kurczy about his new book THE QUIET ZONE. Stephen Kurczy is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The NewYork Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Christian Science Monitor, and VICE, among other outlets. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he was a 2016-2017 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism. Kurczy has lived without a cell phone for over a decade.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Evan Morgan Williams about his new book STORIES OF THE NEW WEST. Evan Morgan Williams is the author of three collections of short stories. His latest collection, Stories of the New West, will be released in September, 2021, by Main Street Rag Press. Pre-orders are welcome! Click on “Purchase” to learn more.
Williams’ first collection, Thorn: Short Stories, won the 2013 Chandra Prize at BkMk Press (University of Missouri-Kansas City). The book received several honors after publication, including a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards. The book was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Wiley Cash about his latest novel WHEN GHOSTS COME HOME. Wiley Cash is the New York Times best selling author of When Ghosts Come Home, The Last Ballad, A Land More Kind than Home, and This Dark Road to Mercy. He currently serves as Alumni Author-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. He lives with his wife and two young daughters on the coast of North Carolina.
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Gervais Hagerty grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. After reporting and producing the news for both radio and television, she taught communications at The Citadel. When not writing, she works on local environmental and transportation issues. She lives in Charleston with her husband and two daughters. In Polite Company is her first novel.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author James Tate Hill about his new memoir BLIND MAN'S BLUFF. James Tate Hill is the author of Academy Gothic, winner of the 2014 Nilsen Prize for a First Novel, coming in fall 2015 from SMSU Press. He serves as Fiction and Reviews Editor for the literary journal Monkeybicycle, an imprint of Dzanc Books. His short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Story Quarterly, Sonora Review, The South Carolina Review, The Laurel Review, The Texas Review, and elsewhere. He holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Hollins University and an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he served as Fiction Editor of The Greensboro Review. Currently he lives in Greensboro with his wife, Lori.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews scholar and editor Sylvia Shurbutt about a new collection of essays titled SILAS HOUSE: EXPLORING AN APPALACHIAN WRITERS WORK. Sylvia is the director of the Shepherd University Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities. She currently serves as the Appalachian Heritage WIR Project Director at Shepherd University and as the editor of the Anthology of Appalachian Writers.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back author Karen Salyer McElmurrary to talk about her new book: VOICE LESSONS: ESSAYS. Karen Salyer McElmurray’s Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey, was an AWP Award Winner for Creative Nonfiction. Her novels are The Motel of the Stars, Editor’s Pick by Oxford American, and Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. Her nonfiction work has been three times Notable in Best American Essays, several times a Pushcart nominee, and a recipient of the Annie Dillard Award for the Essay, the New Southerner Award and the Orison Anthology Award for Creative Nonfiction. She has co-edited, with poet Adrian Blevins, an essay collection called Walk till the Dogs Get Mean. Wanting Radiance, her newest novel, was released in April 2020 from University Press of Kentucky. An essay collection called Voice Lessons is currently under contract with Iris Press. McElmurray teaches in the Low Residency Program at West Virginia Wesleyan College and as part-time Associate Professor at Gettysburg College.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to thriller novelist David Bell about his latest novel KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS. David Bell is the USA Today-bestselling author of eleven novels from Berkley/Penguin, including KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS, THE REQUEST, LAYOVER, SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER, BRING HER HOME, SINCE SHE WENT AWAY, SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW, THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, NEVER COME BACK, THE HIDING PLACE, and CEMETERY GIRL.
His work has been translated into numerous foreign languages, included on several bestseller lists, nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and, in 2013, won the prestigious Prix Polar International de Cognac for best crime novel by an international author.
He is a professor of English at Western Kentucky University where he co-founded and directs the MFA program in creative writing. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he spends his free time rooting for the Reds and Bengals, watching movies, and walking in the cemetery near his house. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Blake Scott Ball about his latest book CHARLIE BROWN'S AMERICA: THE POPULAR POLITICS OF PEANUTS. Blake is an Assistant Professor of History at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama and is a writer and historian of 20th century culture.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jim Hamilton about his new novel THE LAST ENTRY. Jim Hamilton is a County Extension Director for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. While originally from a small town in east central Alabama, he's been huntin', plantin', transplanting, consuming, and teaching about ginseng in western North Carolina for the last 10 years. He holds a PhD in Forestry from NC State and is an adjunct professor at Appalachian State University in Boone. Before settling in the mountains in his current position, Jim was a Peace Corps Volunteer, an environmental consultant, an A.M. country music DJ, and a volunteer fireman.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author and podcaster Anna Sale about her new book LETS TALK ABOUT HARD THINGS. Anna is the creator and host of Death, Sex & Money, the award-winning podcast from WNYC Studios, where she’s been doing interviews about “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more” since 2014. Before that, she covered politics for public radio for years. She grew up in West Virginia and lives in the East Bay in California with her husband and two daughters.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, the special series on the business side of publishing concludes with a conversation with literary agent Alice Speilburg. Alice is the founding agent of Speilburg Literary and has worked in book publishing for more than a decade. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (formerly the AAR) and represents narrative nonfiction an d commercial fiction for adults and YA readers. Alice previously worked at John Wiley & Sons, and Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. She has worked with bestselling and award-winning authors, literary and professional societies, and branded content.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, our special series on the business side of publishing continues with book publicist Maryglenn McCombs. Maryglenn is a 1993 graduate of Vanderbilt University and has been actively working in the book publishing industry for nearly 20 years. During that time she has been involved with literally hundreds of books. She discuss what a book publicist does for authors and why authors need them to help promote their work(s).
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This episode of Now, Appalachia is the first episode in a series of podcasts focusing on the business side of writing and publishing. The guest for this episode is Ashley Runyon, of the University Press of Kentucky.The University Press of Kentucky has a dual mission—the publication of academic books of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South, and Appalachia. The Press is the statewide nonprofit scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, serving all Kentucky state-sponsored institutions of higher learning as well as six private colleges and Kentucky’s two major historical societies.
Ashley Runyon, the acquisitions editor of the press, discusses university presses, how and why they might be a good publishing option for authors, and how an author can know if a university press is a good option for their project.
This episode of Now, Appalachia is the first episode in a series of podcasts focusing on the business side of writing and publishing. The guest for this episode is Ashley Runyon, of the University Press of Kentucky. The University Press of Kentucky has a dual mission—the publication of academic books of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South, and Appalachia. The Press is the statewide nonprofit scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, serving all Kentucky state-sponsored institutions of higher learning as well as six private colleges and Kentucky’s two major historical societies.
Ashley Runyon, the acquisitions editor of the press, discusses university presses, how and why they might be a good publishing option for authors, and how an author can know if a university press is a good option for their project.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio author Jess Montgomery about her latest novel THE STILLS. Jess Montgomery is the “Literary Life” columnist for the Dayton Daily News and writes a new Writer's Digest magazine column, "Level Up Your Writing (Life)." Based on early chapters of the first in the Kinship Series, The Widows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist’s grant for literary arts and named the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She lives in her native state of Ohio.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Kentucky author Leesa Cross-Smith about her new novel THIS CLOSE TO OKAY. Leesa Cross-Smith is a homemaker and the author of Every Kiss A War, Whiskey & Ribbons, So We Can Glow, and This Close To Okay. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and their two teenagers. Find more at LeesaCrossSmith.com.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews North Carolina author Renea Winchester about her new novel OUTBOUND TRAIN. Renea Winchester was born in Bryson City, North Carolina. She is the author of two nonfiction books set in Atlanta Georgia where she lived for 17 years. Outbound Train is her first novel.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews New York Times bestselling Appalachian author John Hart about his latest novel THE UNWILLING. John is the New York Times bestselling author of The King of Lies, Down River, The Last Child, Iron House, Redemption Road, and The Hush. The only author in history to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel consecutively, John has also won the Barry Award, the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Award for Fiction, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into thirty languages and can be found in more than seventy countries.
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On the first episode of 2021, Eliot interviews author Michael Farris Smith about his new novel NICK. Michael is the author of Blackwood, The Fighter, Desperation Road, Rivers, and The Hands of Strangers. His novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists in Esquire, Southern Living, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has been a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, the Gold Dagger Award in the UK, and the Grand Prix des Lectrices in France, and his essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Bitter Southerner, Garden & Gun, and more. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and two daughters.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to Brooks Rexroat, founder of Summer Camp Publishing. Summer Camp Publishing is a micropress specializing in brief but powerful works of prose and poetry. Based in Banner Elk, North Carolina, the press has a special affinity for the Appalachian and Midwestern roots of its founders but is home for compelling work from writers writing from anywhere and everywhere.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to Tennessee historian and author Jeff Jackson about his latest book: PAPER BULLETS: TWO ARTISTS WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES TO DEFY THE NAZIS. Jeff is a is Professor of History at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. An expert on European history and culture, he is the author of Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910 and Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris. He has appeared in documentary films and helped develop “Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story” for PBS’s Great Performances.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Kentucky author Ellen Birkett Morris about her short story collection LOST GIRLS. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, AntiochReview, South Carolina Review, and other journals. She received the BevelSummers Prize for short fiction. Morris is a recipient of the Al Smith Fellowfrom the Kentucky Arts Council. Morris has an MFA from QueensUniversity-Charlotte.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio poet Ben Kline. Hailing from west Appalachian farm country, Ben Kline lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, writing poems and telling stories, drinking more coffee than might seem wise. His chapbook SAGITTARIUS A* will be published in 2020 by Sibling Rivalry Press.
His work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in The Cortland Review, DIAGRAM, My Loves: a Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems, Okay Donkey, Theta Wave, Screen Door Review, Homology Lit, Pidgeonholes, Impossible Archetype and many more. You can read more at benklineonline.wordpress.com.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews North Carolina author and podcaster Landis Wade. Landis Wade is a recovering trial lawyer, dog lover, host of Charlotte Readers Podcast and author of books and stories whose third book--"The Christmas Redemption"--won the Holiday category of the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards.
He won the 2016 North Carolina State Bar short story contest for "The Deliberation" and received awards for his non-fiction pieces, "The Cape Fear Debacle" and "First Dance." His short work has also appeared in Writersdigest.com, The Charlotte Observer, Flying South, Fiction on the Web and in various anthologies, including by Daniel Boone Footsteps.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to North Carolina author Annette Clapsaddle about her new novel EVEN AS WE BREATHE. Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her work Going to Water won the Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium and was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She is coeditor of the Journal of Cherokee Studies and serves on the board of trustees for the North Carolina Writers' Network. She resides in Qualla, North Carolina.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews journalist Jeff Young about his new book APPALACHIAN FALL: DISPATCHES FROM COAL COUNTRY ON WHAT'S AILING AMERICA. Jeff Young is the managing editor of Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. The ReSource includes seven public media outlets across the three states, and aims to strengthen news coverage of the area’s most important issues. Jeff previously worked for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and was a Washington correspondent for the Public Radio International program “Living on Earth.” His reporting has been recognized with numerous awards, and he was named a 2012 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Carter Taylor Seaton about her latest novel THE OTHER MORGANS. West Virginia native Carter Taylor Seaton is a Marshall University graduate, a former marathoner and scuba diver, and the award-winning author of two novels, Father's Troubles, and amo, amas, amat . . . an unconventional love story, as well as non-fiction: Hippie Homesteaders: Arts, Music, and Living on the Land in West Virginia, and a biography of the late congressman Ken Hechler, The Rebel in the Red Jeep. Her children's book, Me and MaryAnn, is a collection of stories of her mischievous childhood. She has been a regular contributor to Huntington Quarterly Magazine and other regional magazines for over twenty years. Seaton is an oft sought-after speaker and workshop presenter as well as the host of both a cable television program, Chapters, which profiles authors, editors, and publishers, and a monthly literary event in Huntington, her hometown.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back Randal O'Wain to the show to talk about his latest work, a collection of short stories titled HALLELUJAH STATION AND OTHER STORIES. Randal is the author of Meander Belt: Family, Loss, and Coming of Age in the Working Class South. He is assistant teaching professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing fellow at the Alderson Federal Correctional Institution. His work has been published in Oxford American, The Masters Review, Crazyhorse, Zone 3, and Guernica Magazine.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jamie Poissant. is the author of The Heaven of Animals: Stories, in print in five languages, winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a Florida Book Award, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, One Story, Ploughshares, and others. He teaches in the MFA program at the University of Central Florida and lives in Orlando with his wife and daughters. Lake Life is his first novel.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author David Joy about his latest novel WHEN THESE MOUNTAINS BURN. David is the author of The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of publications, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey and a co-editor for Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing. Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Edward Farmer about his new novel PALE. Edward A. Farmer is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, where he journaled and cultivated stories his entire childhood. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a degree in English and psychology, and recipient of the MacArthur-Leithauser Travel Award for creative writing. He currently lives and writes in Pasadena, California. Pale is his first novel.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews writer Karen Salyer McElmurray about her latest novel WANTING RADIANCE. Karen Salyer McElmurray won an AWP Award for creative nonfiction for her book Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother's Journey and the Orison Award for creative nonfiction for her essay "Blue Glass." She has had other essays recognized as "Notable Essays" in Best American Essays, while her essays "Speaking Freely" and "Attics" were nominated for Pushcart Awards. She currently teaches at Gettysburg College and in West Virginia Wesleyan's Low-Residency MFA program.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews North Carolina author Meagan Lucas. Meagan Lucas is the author of the Southern Literary Fiction novel SONGBIRDS AND STRAY DOGS. Her short work has appeared in: The Santa Fe Writer's Project, The New Southern Fugitives, Still: The Journal, and The Blue Mountain Review among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction. Meagan teaches English Composition at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and lives with her husband and children in Hendersonville, NC.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Katherine St. John about her novel THE LION'S DEN. Katherine is a native of Mississippi and graduate of the University of Southern California. Over the years she has worked as an actress, screenwriter, director, photographer, producer, singer-songwriter, legal assistant, bartender-waitress, yoga instructor, real estate agent, and travel coordinator . . . but finds she likes writing novels best. Katherine currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews thriller writer Meghan Holloway about her latest novel HUNTING GROUND. Meghan lives in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains with her standard poodle and spends her days as a scientist with the requisite glasses, but minus the lab coat.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio poet Darren Demaree. Darren C. Demaree is a graduate of the College of Wooster, Miami University (MA), and Kent State University (MLIS). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. "Emily As Sometimes the Forest Wants the Fire" is his eleventh collection of poetry.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back fiction novelist Jordan Farmer to talk about his new book THE POISON FLOOD. Jordan was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia, population approximately 2,000. He earned his M.A. from Marshall University and his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks with the White House Historian for the White House Historical Association Lindsay Chervinsky about her new book THE CABINET: GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE CREATION OF AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION. Lindsay writes about politics, the military, and culture from the 1770s to the 1820s. Lindsay completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, my Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis, and my B.A. at George Washington University.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews novelist Taylor Brown about his latest book Pride of Eden. Taylor Brown was born on the Georgia coast. He is the author of a short story collection, IN THE SEASON OF BLOOD AND GOLD, as well as four novels: FALLEN LAND, THE RIVER OF KINGS, GODS OF HOWL MOUNTAIN, and PRIDE OF EDEN (St. Martin's Press). He is the recipient of a Montana Prize in Fiction, and a finalist for the Press 53 Open Awards, Machigonne Fiction Contest, and Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot speaks to Conor Knighton about his new book "Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park."
A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Conor Knighton is an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, America's #1 Sunday morning news program. He has also hosted shows on Current TV, AMC, and Bio Channel.
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On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Kentucky author Wesley Browne about his new novel Hillbilly Hustle. Wesley is the founder and host of Pages & Pints Reading Series at Apollo Pizza in Richmond, Kentucky.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Mississippi author Lee Durkee about his latest novel The Last Taxi Driver. Lee Durkee is the author of the novel Rides of the Midway. His stories and essays have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, the Sun, Best of the Oxford American, Zoetrope: All-Story, Tin House, New England Review, and Mississippi Noir. In 2021, his memoir Stalking Shakespeare will chronicle his decade-long obsession with trying to find lost portraits of William Shakespeare. A former cab driver, he lives in north Mississippi.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Amanda Eyre Ward about her latest novel "The Jetsetters." Amanda Eyre Ward is the author of Sleep Toward Heaven, How to Be Lost, Love Stories in This Town, Forgive Me, Close Your Eyes, The Same Sky, The Nearness of You, and The Jetsetters. Her bestselling novels have been featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, and more. Amanda's work has been optioned for film and television and translated into fifteen languages. She lives in Austin, TX and Ouray, CO. Amanda currently writes every morning and spends afternoons with her children.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot talks to Kentucky author Carter Sickels about his latest novel "The Prettiest Star." Carter is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award, and has been awarded scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, VCCA, and the MacDowell Colony. His essays and fiction have appeared in various publications, including Guernica, Bellevue Literary Review, and BuzzFeed, and he is the editor of Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships & Identity. Carter is Assistant Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, where he teaches in the Bluegrass Writers Studio Low-Residency MFA program.
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot talks to mystery author Jess Montgomery about her latest novel "The Hallows," a sequel to her first novel "The Widows." Jess is is the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News and former Executive Director of the renowned Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Based on early chapters of The Hollows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist’s grant for literary arts and the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. She lives in her native state of Ohio.
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews author Matt Browning. Matt Browning is the author of "Bookstore Explorer: West Virginia," a celebration of the Mountain State's independent bookstores. He discusses the role that independent bookstores have within the cultural fabric of Appalachia and how independent bookstores throughout the country are often the center of the community. He is represented by Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews thriller author John Vercher. John Vercher is a writer currently living in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He holds a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. His fiction has appeared on Akashic Books’ Mondays are Murder and Fri-SciFi. and he is a contributing writer for Cognoscenti, the thoughts and opinions page of WBUR Boston.
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On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews South Carolina short story author Dustin M. Hoffman. Dustin painted houses in Michigan for ten years and is now an assistant professor of English at Winthrop University in South Carolina. His short fiction has appeared in many magazines, including Threepenny Review, Black Warrior Review, Puerto del Sol, Midwestern Gothic, and Cimarron Review, and his story “Building Walls” received a Pushcart Prize special mention.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews author Jordan Farmer. Originally from West Virginia, Jordan received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His stories have appeared in the Southwest Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Baltimore Review, Pembroke Magazine, Day One Magazine and many other publications. The Pallbearer, his first novel, is discussed extensively in this interview.
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews poet January Gill O'Neil. January is the author of the new poetry collection Rewilding, as well as other collections titled Misery Islands and Underlife, published by CavanKerry Press. She is a board of trustees member with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) A Cave Canem fellow, January's poems and articles have appeared in the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day series, Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, American Poetry Review, and others. She is currently the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews Tennessee author Kimberly Collins. She grew up in Matewan, West Virginia and currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She discusses her latest novel, titled "Blood Creek: Mingo Chronicles: Book One." She is working on the second book in the Mingo Chronicles series titled "Mingo Chronicles: The Massacre."
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On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with essayist Randal O'Wain. Randal O'Wain earned his MFA from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program. He is an assistant teaching professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing Fellow at the Beckley Federal Correctional Institution. O’Wain is the author of the essay collection Meander Belt and his work has been published in Oxford American, Hotel Amerika, Crazyhorse, and Guernica Magazine.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews North Carolina author Elaine Neal Orr. Elaine Neil Orr is a writer of fiction, memoir, and literary criticism. With stories set in Nigeria and the American South, she delves into themes of home, country, and spiritual longing. Orr was born in Nigeria to medical missionary parents and spent her growing-up years in the savannahs and rain forests of that country. She is an award-winning Professor of English at North Carolina State University and serves on the faculty of the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with author Kasey S. Pipes about his latest book "After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon." Kasey is the Norris Fellow at the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He also served as an advisor to President George W. Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Joe Walters is the former marketing director at Inkwater Press and is the founder and president of Independent Book Review since April 2018. During his time as the marketing and publicity director at Inkwater Press, he discovered how difficult it was for small press and self-published books to get the attention they deserved. In this interview, Joe discusses why its difficult for some books to get attention and how Independent Book Review can help authors overcome that obstacle.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with author John Billheimer. Billheimer, a native West Virginian, lives in Portola Valley, California. THE CONTRARY BLUES was the first book in the “funny, sometimes touching,” mystery series set in Appalachia and featuring failure analyst Owen Allison.A second mystery series featuring Lloyd Keaton, a Midwest sports writer with a gambling problem, debuted in 2012 with FIELD OF SCHEMES, a mystery involving baseball and steroids. The author’s output includes two nonfiction books, BASEBALL AND THE BLAME GAME, which examines scapegoating in the major leagues, and HITCHCOCK AND THE CENSORS, which traces the rise of movie censorship and documents its impact on Alfred Hitchcock as he battled bluenoses to produce a lifetime of memorable films.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with essayist Brooke Larson about her new collection of essays "Pleasing Tree." They also discuss the genre of essays and what makes them unique for writers and readers. Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Brooke holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and is currently a PhD student in Poetry at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Often she runs away to teach primitive survival skills as a wilderness guide in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. https://bit.ly/2NHk2kS
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David Bell is the USA Today-bestselling author of eight novels from Berkley/Penguin, He is an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University where he directs the MFA program in creative writing. and is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He discuss with Eliot his latest thriller novel "Layover" and how and MFA program can benefit writers.
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On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot talks with creative nonfiction author Christina Fisanick about her book "The Optimistic Food Addict," which discusses her personal struggle with food and weight and the complicated relationship food has with Appalachian people and their culture. They also discuss the first Northern Appalachian Writers Conference, scheduled for early September 2019.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author interviews Karen Swallow Prior, an award-winning Professor of English at Liberty University. She earned her Ph.D. in English at SUNY Buffalo. Her writing has appeared at The Atlantic, Christianity Today, Washington Post, Vox, First Things, Sojourners, Relevant, Think Christian, and other places. She is a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, a Research Fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, a Senior Fellow at Liberty University' Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement, and a member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States. She and her husband live on a 100-year old homestead in central Virginia with sundry horses, dogs, and chickens. And lots of books.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller writer Eliot Parker interviews Del Duduit. Del Duduit is an award-winning sportswriter and author. He has been published in Clubhouse Magazine, Sports Spectrum, and on ToddStarnes.com. He is a contributing writer for Athletes in Action, The Christian View, Bridges Magazine, and PM Magazine. He is the co-editor for Southern Ohio Christian Voice and blogs weekly at delduduit.com. He lives in Lucasville, Ohio, with his wife Angie.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network Host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews poet Rita Quillen. Rita Quillen’s novel Hiding Ezra was published in 2014 from Little Creek Books; it was a finalist in the 2005 DANA Awards competition, and a chapter of the novel is included in the new scholarly study of Appalachian dialect just published by the University of Kentucky Press entitled Talking Appalachian. Her poetry chapbook, Something Solid To Anchor To, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. Her new full-length poetry collection, THE MAD FARMER'S WIFE, was published in the fall of 2016 from Texas Review Press, and was a finalist for the prestigious WEATHERFORD AWARD IN APPALACHIAN LITERATURE from Berea College.
One of six semi-finalists for the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Virginia, her poetry received three Pushcart nominations as well as a Best of the Net nomination. Her collection Her Secret Dream, new and selected poems, is from Wind Press in Kentucky and was named the Outstanding Poetry Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association in 2008. Previous works are poetry collections October Dusk and Counting The Sums, as well as a book of essays Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry.
Rita is also a musician, playing guitar, mandolin,piano, dulcimer, autoharp, bass, and bodhran, and she has recently began writing songs. She won first place in the 2015 Gathering in the Gap Songwriting Contest and was also a finalist in the Richard Leigh Songwriting Competition that same year. She has performed at many venues in the region as part of various groups or as a singer/songwriter.
She lives and farms on Early Autumn Farm in Scott County, Virginia. Contact her through her author Facebook page linked on this page: www.facebook.com/ritaquillenhidingezra.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller writer Eliot Parker interviews Cat Pleska. Cat is an author, editor, educator, publisher, and storyteller. She often leads writing workshops in the community and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio, and a book reviewer for West Virginia University Press. She edited the anthology Fed from the Blade: Tales and Poems from the Mountains (Woodland Press 2012), and her first book, Riding on Comets: a Memoir was published by West Virginia University Press May 2015. Riding on Comets was short listed for the 2015 book of the year in the memoir category by Foreword Magazine. Cat is the 2016 recipient of the Governor’s Arts Award for Support of the Arts. Her cookbook, One Foot in the Gravy—Hooked on the Sauce: Recipes You’ll Relish was published by Mountain State Press in April 2017. She is working on a novel, a collection of short stories, and a collection of essays. She holds an MFA from Goucher College in Baltimore (2004), as well as an MA in Humanities (1998) and a BA in English (writing emphasis, 1994). She teaches in the graduate humanities program for Marshall University and is a full time Instructor for Arizona State University’s Master of Liberal Studies Program.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host Eliot Parker welcomes author Sheryl Monks. Sheryl Monks is the author of Monsters in Appalachia, published by Vandalia Press, the creative imprint of West Virginia University Press. She holds an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Her stories have appeared in Rkvry Quarterly, Electric Literature, The Butter, The Greensboro Review, storySouth, Regarding Arts and Letters, Night Train, and other journals, and in the anthologies Surreal South and Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods: Contemporary West Virginia Fiction and Poetry, among others. Monsters in Appalachia is a Weatherford Award finalist, a Southern Book Prize finalist, and a Foreword Indies Book finalist. Sheryl lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she works for a peer-reviewed medical journal.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews Jessica Strawser. Jessica is the editorial director of Writer’s Digest magazine and the author of Almost Missed You and Not That I Could Tell. She has written for The New York Times Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other fine venues, and lives with her husband and two children in Cincinnati.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews Mesha Maren. Mesha Maren's debut novel, Sugar Run, is forthcoming from Algonquin Books in January 2019. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Crazyhorse, Southern Cultures, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2015 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, a 2014 Elizabeth George Foundation grant, an Appalachian Writing Fellowship from Lincoln Memorial University, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She is the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing Fellow at the Beckley Federal Correctional Institution.
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews West Virginia author Heather Gilbert. She is an ECPA Christy award finalist and Grace award winner, writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. Her novels feature small towns, family relationships, and women who aren't afraid to protect those they love. Publisher's Weekly gave Heather's Viking historical Forest Child a starred review, saying it is "an engaging story depicting timeless human struggles with faith, love, loyalty, and leadership."
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Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews author Nick White. Nick White is the author of the novel How to Survive a Summer and the short story collection Sweet and Low. His fiction and essays have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Guernica, The Literary Review, LitHub, and elsewhere. He teaches creative writing at The Ohio State University.
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