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, ...
Jul 26, 2022•28 min•Season 5Ep. 15
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.
Jul 12, 2022•28 min•Season 5Ep. 14
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.
Jun 14, 2022•29 min•Season 5Ep. 15
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, wa...
Jun 07, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 14
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 ...
May 24, 2022•32 min•Season 5Ep. 14
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.
May 17, 2022•30 min•Season 5Ep. 13
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.
May 10, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 12
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...
May 03, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 12
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 K...
Apr 27, 2022•37 min•Season 4Ep. 11
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 Universit...
Apr 19, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 10
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-finalis...
Apr 12, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 9
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 Col...
Apr 05, 2022•37 min•Season 4Ep. 9
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...
Mar 29, 2022•36 min•Season 4Ep. 9
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 Harpe...
Mar 15, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 8
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 suc...
Mar 08, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 7
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 boy...
Mar 01, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 5
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. H...
Feb 22, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 4
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 a...
Feb 08, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 3
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 W...
Jan 25, 2022•38 min•Season 4Ep. 2
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 Fellow...
Jan 11, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 1
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 i...
Dec 14, 2021•40 min•Season 4Ep. 21
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...
Dec 09, 2021•37 min•Season 4Ep. 20
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...
Nov 23, 2021•40 min•Season 4Ep. 11
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 Languag...
Nov 08, 2021•40 min•Season 4Ep. 8
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.
Nov 02, 2021•30 min•Season 4Ep. 6
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 journal...
Oct 18, 2021•35 min•Season 4Ep. 6
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 Times bestsellers 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 Bo...
Oct 11, 2021•35 min•Season 4Ep. 5
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...
Oct 04, 2021•33 min•Season 4Ep. 5
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 Cit...
Sep 27, 2021•31 min•Season 4Ep. 2
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.
Sep 20, 2021•30 min•Season 4Ep. 1
