Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
MYTHIC MOUNTAINS: THE ROLE OF THE FANTASTIC IN APPALACHIAN LITERATURE
Session Abstract or Summary
Appalachia is often thought of as an insular part of the American landscape, with problems, issues, and attitudes that don’t always resonate beyond the region. How can we, as writers, depict the Appalachian experience in a way that preserves its distinctness while also reaching a wider audience? This panel, consisting of core and guest faculty, alumni, and students from WV Wesleyan’s low-residency MFA Program, will discuss the role of the fantastic in their depiction of Appalachia and how the fantastic can make regional literature more accessible. Panelists will read a short selection from their work that incorporates the surreal, otherworldly, or mythic, and will engage each other in a discussion, accepting questions from the audience.
Presentation #1 Title
MYTHIC MOUNTAINS: THE ROLE OF THE FANTASTIC IN APPALACHIAN LITERATURE
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Appalachia is often thought of as an insular part of the American landscape, with problems, issues, and attitudes that don’t always resonate beyond the region. How can we, as writers, depict the Appalachian experience in a way that preserves its distinctness while also reaching a wider audience? This panel, consisting of core and guest faculty, alumni, and students from WV Wesleyan’s low-residency MFA Program, will discuss the role of the fantastic in their depiction of Appalachia and how the fantastic can make regional literature more accessible. Panelists will read a short selection from their work that incorporates the surreal, otherworldly, or mythic, and will engage each other in a discussion, accepting questions from the audience.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
C.M. Chapman is a West Virginia fiction writer whose work has appeared in Cheat River Review, Kentucky Review, Bird’s Thumb, Rose Red Review and So It Goes: A Tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, among others. His chapbook, Music & Blood, is slated for release in Spring, 2016 from Latham House Press. He is a 2015 MFA graduate from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Marie Manilla’s novel, The Patron Saint of Ugly, won the 2014 Weatherford Award in fiction. Shrapnel received the Fred Bonnie Award for Best First Novel. Still Life with Plums was a finalist for the Weatherford Award and ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year. Manilla teaches in WV Wesleyan’s Low-Residency MFA Program.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Mary Imo-Stike has lived in southern West Virginia for 30 years. Her poetry has appeared in Antietam Review, Phoebe, Vandalia, Appalachian Heritage, Pikeville Review, Earth’s Daughters, Cactus Heart and Driftwood Press Magazine.
Mary is a 2015 MFA graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College and resides with her husband in Scott Depot, West Virginia.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Larry D. Thacker is a Kentuckian poet, writer, and artist now hailing from Johnson City, Tennessee. He is the author of Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia, an historic and personal journey through the unique folklore and paranormal tendencies of our mountain culture, and two books of poetry, Voice Hunting and Memory Train. He is currently working toward his MFA in Poetry at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
MYTHIC MOUNTAINS: THE ROLE OF THE FANTASTIC IN APPALACHIAN LITERATURE
Appalachia is often thought of as an insular part of the American landscape, with problems, issues, and attitudes that don’t always resonate beyond the region. How can we, as writers, depict the Appalachian experience in a way that preserves its distinctness while also reaching a wider audience? This panel, consisting of core and guest faculty, alumni, and students from WV Wesleyan’s low-residency MFA Program, will discuss the role of the fantastic in their depiction of Appalachia and how the fantastic can make regional literature more accessible. Panelists will read a short selection from their work that incorporates the surreal, otherworldly, or mythic, and will engage each other in a discussion, accepting questions from the audience.
