Appalachian Journal

Our Summer issue is now live over on As the Crow Flies! Read our free open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal by clicking the link below.
https://as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org/current-issue

Today is National Children's Day! Here are some of our favorite Appalachian children's books:

A if for Affrilachia by Frank X Walker () and illustrated by Ronald W. Davis
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell () and illustrated by Frané Lessac
A is for Appalachia!: The Alphabet Book of Appalachian Heritage by Linda Hager Pack () and illustrated by Pat Banks
When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike by Michelle Houts and illustrated by Erica Magnus
An Appalachian Mother Goose by James Still and illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Diane Goode

What are your favorite Appalachian children's books?

Today is the Alien Festival in Sprice Pine, North Carolina. What are your favorite festivals in the region?

Today we celebrate the birthday of poet, educator, writer, artist, and the man who coined the term “Affrilachia”--Frank X Walker. Walker’s newest poetry collection, Load in Nine Times, came out in 2024. Also, check out Kristine Yohe’s 2026 monograph on his important historical poetry, Reckoning with the Past.

Happy birthday, Nikki Giovanni! On this day in 1943, Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. An Affrilachian poet, educator and activist, Giovanni was inspired by the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. Giovanni earned her bachelor’s degree from Fisk University, and was an active member of the Black Arts Movement. In 1970, she started her own publishing company, NikTom, which published her work and the work of other Black women writers. Giovanni taught at Virginia Tech for over thirty years. She died at the age of 81 in 2024.

Happy Pride Month, y'all! Here are some of our favorite reads from LGBTQ+ Appalachian authors:

What Good Is Heaven by Raye Hendrix ()
F***y Says by .brown
A Woman in Progress by Barbara Minney (.marie.minney.writer)
Invert by Clinton W. Waters
Testimony by doris davenport
Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr. ()
Quarantine by Rahul Mehta ()
A Middle-Aged Woman Rages by Melissa Jørgenrud Helton
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels ()
Lark Ascending by Silas House ()
No Son of Mine by Jonathan Corcoron ()
Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia ()
Tar Hollow Trans by Stacy Jane Grover
WWJD by Savannah Sipple ()
To Belong Here edited by Rae Garringer (***rs)
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Q***r Communion by
Sugar Run by Mesha Maren ()

What are your favorite q***r Appalachian reads and listens?

Are you an Appalachian writer? Did you know we have a page of writers’ resources on our website?
ASA in Action! One of the ways we fulfill our mission is by providing a go-to comprehensive listings of resources about Appalachia.
Have suggestions for other resources we should add, please send them and help us grow.

https://www.appalachianstudies.org/resources

Appalachian writers! The Upper New is looking for "narratives about Hurricane Helene and the resulting floods and landslides, etc. that occurred across the Appalachian region: fiction and nonfiction, geolocated photo essays, documentary and fiction films as well." Check out the call: https://uppernew.org/helene-the-aftermath-recovering-relationships-with-rivers/

On this day in 1925, singer, songwriter and musician Hazel Dickens was born in Mercer County, West Virginia. Hazel’s family moved to Baltimore in the 1950s, where she met Mike Seeger, the younger brother of Pete Seeger, and began performing folk and bluegrass songs with him. After playing in Bob Baker’s bluegrass group for several years, Dickens left and began performing with Alice Gerrard, recording two albums as Hazel & Alice at a time when almost all bluegrass bands were led by men. Many of Dickens’ songs revolved around the work of miners and the struggles of women. Hazel Dickens died in 2011 at the age of 85.

Important reminder! Tomorrow, June 1st, is the last day to submit creative work for our Spring 2027 special issue on Animal Studies, co-edited by Dr. Kathryn Kirkpatrick.