Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Changing Ecologies: Hydraulic Fracturing in Appalachian Literature
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Appalachian literature has long addressed ecological concerns relating to the area, with coal mining often taking center stage. From Breece D’J Pancake to Silas House to Lee Smith to Scott McClanahan, coal mines appear in both the foreground and background of Appalachian stories. As hydraulic fracturing has become more widespread, even displacing coal mining in some regions, literature itself has begun to shift. While books on the environmental effects of fracking are proliferating, this ecological disaster’s place in creative writing is still in the process of being discovered.
This paper addresses this growing trend of writing about hydraulic fracturing, including what has been done and what writers can continue to do as we address hydraulic fracturing in our work. From Russell Gold’s The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World to Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America edited by Taylor Brorby and Stefanie Brook Trout, how we write about fracking spans the spectrum. I will examine how writers have already addressed the subject, as well as current trends in writing about it. My goal is to begin a larger conversation about how we can address this growing environmental concern in our own creative works.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Originally from West Virginia, Laura Leigh Morris currently lives in Greenville, SC where she teaches creative writing and literature at Furman University. A fiction writer, all of her work is set in West Virginia, and she is currently working on short stories that explore the effects hydraulic fracturing has on communities. She’s previously published fiction in Appalachian Heritage, The Louisville Review, the Notre Dame Review, and other journals.
Changing Ecologies: Hydraulic Fracturing in Appalachian Literature
Appalachian literature has long addressed ecological concerns relating to the area, with coal mining often taking center stage. From Breece D’J Pancake to Silas House to Lee Smith to Scott McClanahan, coal mines appear in both the foreground and background of Appalachian stories. As hydraulic fracturing has become more widespread, even displacing coal mining in some regions, literature itself has begun to shift. While books on the environmental effects of fracking are proliferating, this ecological disaster’s place in creative writing is still in the process of being discovered.
This paper addresses this growing trend of writing about hydraulic fracturing, including what has been done and what writers can continue to do as we address hydraulic fracturing in our work. From Russell Gold’s The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World to Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America edited by Taylor Brorby and Stefanie Brook Trout, how we write about fracking spans the spectrum. I will examine how writers have already addressed the subject, as well as current trends in writing about it. My goal is to begin a larger conversation about how we can address this growing environmental concern in our own creative works.
