Appalachian Authors I Love

I'm often asked to suggest books and authors, so I have compiled an ever growing list of Appalachian authors I love.

Harriette Arnow (July 7, 1908 – March 22, 1986) Author of The Dollmaker http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/G-0006/excerpts/excerpt_2471.html
Jesse Hilton Stuart (August 8, 1907 – February 17, 1984) a Kentucky writer known for writing short stories, poetry, and novels about Southern Appalachia. Stuart was named the Poet Laureate of Kentucky in 1954. His best known novel was Taps for Private Tussie. A collection of seven hundred and three sonnets, Man with a Bull-Tongue Plow, was published in (1934).
Jim Wayne Miller (October 21, 1936 – August 18, 1996) http://www.jimwaynemiller.com/ Author of numerous books, The Appalachian Writers Workshop ends, traditionally, with a late-night reading of “Brier’s Sermon.” Brier is a persona Miller created to speak for the mountain people. He appears in two Miller books, The Mountains Have Moved Closer and Brier, His Book. Gnomen Press collected all these poems in a volume called The Brier Poems.
Emma Bell Miles (1879-1919) was a writer, poet, painter and naturalist whose works capture the essence of the natural world and the culture of Southern Appalachia. The Spirit of the Mountains is her best known work. She lived most of her life, on Walden’s Ridge and in Chattanooga, Tennessee. http://www.chattanoogan.com/2011/9/6/207994/Emma-Bell-Miles-Symposium-Highlights.aspx
James Still (July 16, 1906 - April 28, 2001) former Kentucky poet laureate, novelist, folklorist and author of River of Earth. Regarded as Appalachia's foremost literary artist, Gurney Norman, the director of the University of Kentucky's creative writing program, called Mr. Still ``certainly the most influential Kentucky writer of the last 50 years. He's the parent of the present generation of writers who came along after 1940.''
http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/sandy.hudock/jshome.html
Gurney Norman was born in Grundy, Virginia in 1937 and grew up in southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky. He serves as Senior Writer-in-Residence at Hindman Settlement School's annual Appalachian Writers Workshop. Norman was selected to serve as the 2009-2010 Poet Laureate for the state of Kentucky, and is author of numerous works including Kinfolks:The Wilgus Stories. http://community.berea.edu/appalachianheritage/issues/summer2005/gurneynorman.html
Lee Smith http://www.leesmith.com/ Author of 13 novels including Fair and Tender Ladies, four short story collections including Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, and an oral history of her hometown, Grundy, VA Sitting on the Courthouse Bench, Smith resides in North Carolina.
Silas House http://www.silashouse.net/about Kentuckian Silas House is the author of four novels including Clay’s Quilt, two YA novels including Eli the Good and the recent Same Sun Here, and three plays. He is also co-author of non-fiction, Something’s Rising and has been published in numerous newspapers and journals across the country. House is known for his work as an environmental activist against mountaintop removal mining.
Sharyn McCrumb http://www.sharynmccrumb.com/ Best known for her Appalachian "Ballad" novels, including The Ballad of Frankie Silver and She Walks These Hills
Pamela Duncan http://www.pameladuncan.com/ Duncan lives in North Carolina and is the author of three novels including The Big Beautiful.
George Ella Lyon http://www.georgeellalyon.com/ Kentuckian George Ella Lyon is a prolific author of over 40 books in multiple genres. She identifies herself first as a poet, but also as a teacher. Her latest book is a children’s book, Which Side Are You On? Her poem “Where I’m From” has traveled all over the world as a writing prompt. Said George Ella, “People have used it at their family reunions, teachers have used it with kids all over the United States, in Ecuador and China; they have taken it to girls in juvenile detention, to men in prison for life, and to refugees in a camp in the Sudan. Its life beyond my notebook is a testimony to the power of poetry, of roots, and of teachers.”
Wendell Berry http://www.wendellberrybooks.com/ Wendell Berry lives and writes in Henry County, Kentucky. He is an environmental activist and farmer who has authored over forty books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including Hannah Coulter.
Robert Morgan http://www.robert-morgan.com/ Morgan is a poet, short story writer, and novelist born and raised in the mountains of North Carolina. Gap Creek is one of his nine published novels and was featured on Oprah.
Amy Greene http://amygreeneauthor.com/ East Tennessean Amy Greene, is the author of Bloodroot and Long Man.
Darnell Arnoult http://www.darnellarnoult.com/ Author of the novel, Sufficient Grace, and a collection of poems, What Travels With Us, Arnoult is currently Writer in Residence at Lincoln Memorial University.
Charles Frazier http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec97/frazier_11-20.html North Carolina author, Charles Frazier, is the author of 3 novels. His first novel, Cold Mountain, won the 1971 National Book Award and was adapted for a movie by the same name.
Denise Giardina http://americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Denise_Giardina.php Bluefield, WV native, Giardina is an environmental activist and novelist. Her books include Storming Heaven, the story of the West Virginia-Kentucky coal mines in 1890-1921, when coal miners were fighting to be unionized.
Ann Pancake http://annpancake.blogspot.com/A West Virginia native, Pancake is an award winning writer and environmental activist who has published numerous short stories. Strange as the Weather has Been is her first novel.
Dorothy Allison http://www.dorothyallison.net/ Novelist Dorothy Allison grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. She has published numerous award winning works including Bastard out of Carolina.
Jim Minnick http://www.jim-minick.com/ Minnick is the author of two books of poetry, a book of essays, and The Blueberry Years A Memoir of Farm and Family, and winner of the 2011 SIBA Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Award. His first novel, Fire is Your Water was published in 2017.
Annie Dillard http://www.anniedillard.com/ Dillard is a prolific and award winning writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Her 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. She grew up in Pennsylvania, graduated from Hollins College in Roanoke, and currently lives in North Carolina.
Cormac McCarthy http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/ McCarthy is the author of ten novels. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Road published in 2006. His novels All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men were adapted for movies. No Country for Old Men won 4 academy awards including best picture. Born in Rhode Island, he grew up primarily in Knoxville, TN. He currently lives in Texas.
Gwen Rubio http://www.thebookhaven.net/Z_Icy_Sparks.html Born and raised in Georgia, Rubio now lives in Kentucky. Her best known book is Icy Sparks which was featured on Oprah.
Anne Shelby http://www.anneshelby.com Kentuckian Anne Shelby is noted for her Appalachian folk tales, young adult, and children’s books. She is also an environmental activist who writes about preserving her Kentucky mountains. One of her best known books is The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales.
Jill McCorkle http://www.jillmccorkle.com/ The author of four novels, including Going Away Shoes, and four collections of short stories, McCorkle lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Susan Gregg Gilmore http://www.susangregggilmore.com/ Susan was born in Nashville, Tennessee and now lives in Chattanooga. She is the author of three novels, her latest is The Funeral Dress.
Katherine Paterson http://terabithia.com/about-katherine/ Patterson is the author of more than 30 books including16 novels for children and young people. She has twice won the Newbery Medal, for Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved in 1981. She is from Virginia and graduated from King College in Bristol. She now resides in Vermont.
Nikki Giovanni http://nikki-giovanni.com/index.shtml Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Giovanni grew up in Ohio. She is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator and the author of 30 books including The Collected Poems of Nikki Giovanni.
Ron Rash http://www.amazon.com/Ron-Rash/e/B001IQX8XQ North Carolinian Rash is the author of 4 novels including the acclaimed Serena, as well as 4 collections of short stories and 3 collections of poetry. Burning Bright is his newest short story collection.
C. E. Morgan http://us.macmillan.com/author/cemorgan A Cincinnati native who currently calls Berea, Ky., home, Morgan is the author of All the Living. She was a recipient of the National Book Foundations 5 under 35 award and a 2010 Lannan Literary Fellowship.
Karen Salyer McElmurray http://www.georgiacenterforthebook.org/Georgia-Literary-Map/Georgia-Author-Detail.php?record_id=151 McElmurray is the prize-winning author of books of fiction and nonfiction including her memoir Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother's Journey.
Maurice Manning http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maurice-manning A native Kentuckian, Manning’s collection, The Common Man, was one of the two finalists for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
Rita Quillen http://www.ritasimsquillen.com/ Quillen is a native of Scott County, Virginia. In addition to her books of poems, October Dusk, and Counting the Sums, she is the author of a book of critical essays, Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry, and a novel, Hiding Ezra.
Adriana Trigiana http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/ Big Stone Gap, VA native, Trigiana is a playwright, producer, and author of 15 novels including four novels centered on Big Stone Gap – Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler, Milk Glass Moon, and Home to Big Stone Gap. Big Stone Gap the movie is set to release fall of 2014. She now resides in New York.
Mark Powell http://www.stetson.edu/other/faculty/mark-powell.php Novelist Powell has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Breadloaf Writers' Conference. He is the author of the novels Blood Kin and Prodigals. A native of North Carolina, Powell resides in Florida.
Doris Betts http://englishcomplit.unc.edu/people/bettsd North Carolina native, Betts authored nine novels and short story collections, most recently The Sharp Teeth of Love and Souls Raised from the Dead.
Ruth White http://www.ruthwhite.net Born in Buchanan County Va, Ruth was raised in the tiny community of Whitewood. She is the author of ten Young Adult novels. Belle Prater's Boy was a Newbery Honor Book in 1996.
Barbara Kingslover http://www.kingslover.com Kingslover was born in rural Kentucky. The author of thirteen books, she received the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts. The Poisonwood Bible was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Orange Prize, and won the national book award of South Africa, before being named an Oprah Book Club selection. Kingslover has lived and worked all over the world. She now resides in Abingdon, VA.
Becky Muskro http://www.beckymushko.com/ Muskro is a retired teacher who lives in rural Franklin County, Virginia. She writes novels, short stories and young adult books. Ferradiddledumday, an Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin tale, is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her latest YA novel is Stuck.
Amy Clark http://www.amydclark.com/index.html Amy Clark is a native of Jonesville, Virginia, in the heart of Appalachia. She is the author of two nonfiction books and several articles and essays. Her latest book is Talking Appalachian. She is the founding director of the University of Virginia's College at Wise Appalachian Writing Project, a non-profit organization which supports rural teachers in their research, writing, and teaching about writing.
Denton Loving https://www.facebook.com/denton.loving Denton Loving is the author of Crimes Against Birds (poetry) and editor of SEEKING ITS OWN LEVEL, an anthology about water (MotesBooks). He currently works at Lincoln Memorial University and co-directs the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival.
Wiley Cash http://www.wileycash.com/ A North Carolina native, Wiley Cash is the author of This Dark Road to Mercy and A Land More Kind Than Home.
Gretchen Moran Laskas https://www.facebook.com/gretchen.laskas Laskas currently lives in Fairfax, VA. Her novels include The Midwife's Tale and The Miner's Daughter.
Sarah Addison Allen http://www.sarahaddisonallen.com New York Times bestselling author of Garden Spells and 5 more novels. Born in Asheville, N.C
Marie Manilla http://www.mariemanilla.com/ Author of The Patron Saint of Ugly, Shrapnel, and Still Life with Plums. Marie is from West VA
Pickney, Benedict http://www.press53.com/BioPinckneyBenedict.html Award winning author of numerous short stories including the book Miracle Boy and Other Stories. Pickney is from Lewisburg, WVA.
Carter Sickels http://cartersickels.com/ Author of The Evening Hour
Crystal Wilkinson https://www.berea.edu/appalachian-center/home/faculty-and-staff/crystal-wilkinson/ Currently writer-in-residence at Berea College, Berea Ky, Crystal is the author of Blackberries, Blackberries and The Birds of Opulence. Born in Ohio, Crystal grew up in Indian Creek, Ky.
Rita Quillen poet and novelist.https://www.facebook.com/rita.quillen Her latest book of poems is The Mad Farmer's Wife and Hiding Erza is her latest novel.
Jessie van Eerden, West VA writer and director of West Virginia Wesleyan's MFA program. www.jessievaneerden.com/http://www.jessievaneerden.com/ Her latest publication is The Long Weeping, a collection of portrait essays. She is also the author of novels, Radio and Glorybound.
Richard Schmitt, author of the novel, The Aerialist and short story collection Living Among Strangers currently teaches at West VA Wesleyan, MFA program.
Rebecca Gayle Howell, is a Kentucky poet, editor, and translator, She is the author of American Purgatory and Render /An Apocalypse., www.rebeccagaylehowell.com/
Jacinda Townsend is from Kentucky. She studied at Harvard and Duke University, where she earned a law degree before obtaining an MFA from Iowa's Writers Workshop. Saint Monkey is her first novel.aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Jacinda+Townsend
Katie Fallon is a WV native. She is the non fiction author of Cerulean Blues and Vulture, and co-author of children's books Look, See the Bird and Look, See the Farm. She currently serves as President of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society, and she is also one of the founders of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving wild birds through research, education, and rehabilitation. www.katiefallon.com/
Diane Gilliam, Ohio native poet, Gilliam is the author of several poetry collections including One of Everything and Kettle Bottom: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/diane-gilliam-fisher
Doug Van Gundy, poet and WV native is the author of A Life Above Water. He is also a musician and professor of poetry at West VA Wesleyan's MFA program www.dougvangundy.com/home.htm
Robert Gipe, raised in Kingsport, TN Robert is the author and illustrator of Trampoline and Weedeater. He is director of the Appalachian Program at Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College in Cumberland, Kentucky. www.robertgipe.com/about-rg.html
Mesha Maren, West VA native, Mesha is the author of Sugar Run. meshamaren.com/
Larry Thacker, Writer and Artist, Larry lives in east Tennessee. His poetry collections include Voice Hunting and Memory Train and Drifting in Awe. www.larrydthacker.com/
Cassie Chambers, Kentucky native, is the author of Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains. www.amazon.com/Hill-Women-Finding-Appalachian-Mountains-ebook/dp/B07QGNRGBW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=hill+women&link_code=qs&qid=1587062558&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-1