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Letter to America
The literary magazine Terrain is preparing to publish an anthology of writings in response to the current national crises—political, environmental, ethical. They’ve been publishing a series of...
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Works In Progress
In September 2017, I sold two nonfiction books to Random House. One is about the history and legacy of the Battle of Blair Mountain; the other is an essay collection. Here’s the announcement from...
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Best and Most Bizarre
A selection of first-person testimonies from On Dark and Bloody Ground was included in the “Readings” column of Harper’s, where the magazine reprints “excerpts from the best and most bizarre new books.”
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NEH Public Scholar Award
I’m honored to be the recipient of a 2021 National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award, which I will use to finish my current book project, a deeply researched narrative history of the...
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On Dark and Bloody Ground
Now for sale from West Virginia University Press! This set of oral histories from 1972 circulated for many years as an informal typescript volume, acquiring an almost legendary status among those...
View ArticleOut of the Fire
Next year, West Virginia University Press will publish a rare 1973 manuscript, On Dark and Bloody Ground: An Oral History of the West Virginia Mine Wars, by Anne Lawrence, with a Foreword by me and an...
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Letter to America
The literary magazine Terrain is preparing to publish an anthology of writings in response to the current national crises—political, environmental, ethical. They’ve been publishing a series of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Greensboro Bound
I’m headed to the Greensboro Bound literary festival next week, where the novelist Wiley Cash and myself will talk about contemporary Appalachian voices, the representation and the role of...
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The Georgia Review
The writer Jessica Smith graciously reviewed The Book of the Dead—a new edition of Muriel Rukeyser’s famous poem cycle about the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster–for The Georgia Review: Admirers of Muriel...
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Glamour
I wrote a short piece for Glamour magazine’s September issue, published alongside the voices of women in Arizona, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Florida, speaking about the issues that will decide their...
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Two Reviews
Proud to share two reviews/essays pertaining to the recent WVU Press reprint of poet Muriel Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead, to which I wrote the introduction. Los Angeles Review of Books, “I Wake Up...
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Politico
My agent shouted out my forthcoming books in Politico Magazine the other day, in a story on how the Trump victory impacted publishing: The turn of political administrations has always brought changes...
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Taylor Books Reading March 1
Wrapping up a series of readings and events to promote the re-issue of Muriel Rukeyser’s poem collection, The Book of the Dead, by West Virginia University Press. One more chance to catch a reading...
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New Publisher – Random House!
Big news this month — I sold two nonfiction books to my dream editor, Kate Medina, at Random House. One is a book about the history and legacy of the Battle of Blair Mountain; the other is an essay...
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WVU Press Re-publishes “The Book of the Dead”
Written in response to the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel disaster of 1931 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, The Book of the Dead is an important part of West Virginia’s cultural heritage and a powerful account of...
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Turning Coal Mines Into Farms
On a surface-mine-turned-farm in Mingo County, West Virginia, former coal miner Wilburn Jude plunks down three objects on the bed of his work truck: a piece of coal, a sponge, and a peach. He’s been...
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My Latest in CJR
AFTER THE 2016 ELECTION, the calls and emails rolled into West Virginia, as the press scrambled to make sense of a place that hadn’t occupied this much space on the national political stage since John...
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Best American Essays
I’m pleased as punch to announce that “The Book of the Dead“—my essay on the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster and the poet Muriel Rukeyser from the Fall 2016 issue of Oxford American—will be included in...
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Two Writing Fellowships
A writer’s cottage at the MacDowell Colony This year I’ll be spending some of the spring and fall months in New England at two writing residencies. I’m happy to announce that I’m the recipient of a...
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Read “The Book of the Dead”
Above the Hawk’s Nest Dam on the New River. Photo by Lisa Elmaleh. My longform nonfiction piece about the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster, “The Book of the Dead: In Fayette County, WV, Expanding the...
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