Participation Type
Performance
Session Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Session Abstract or Summary
Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel is the literary journal of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. Founded in the mid-1980s, the journal gives voice to a wide range of Appalachian writers. We are proposing a reading from Volume 20. This issue’s theme, “Appalachia: Stay or Go?” was offered by writers watching their friends, neighbors and family members struggle with the decision to remain in Appalachia or to move on. Many writers within our community were once part of the Great Migration from Appalachia in the mid-twentieth century and have written about their own or their family’s choice to leave the region. Others are facing similar decisions now. The theme felt particularly appropriate as the Appalachian Studies Association was preparing to hold its annual conference outside the boundaries of the Appalachian Region. As you might expect, our poets, essayists and fiction writers offer no easy answers, and the question itself becomes ever more complex with a changing economic and political climate. We hope you will join us for a lively reading from—and a livelier discussion about— Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia: Stay or Go?” We request the hour and fifteen minute full session. Technical needs are a microphone with speaker for readers.
Presentation #1 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Please see above.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Pauletta Hansel’s sixth collection of poetry, Palindrome, written in response to her mother’s dementia, was published this fall from Dos Madres Press.She is managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Core Member of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition and Poet Laureate of Cincinnati.
Presentation #2 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Please see above.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Randi Ward is a poet, translator, lyricist, and photographer from West Virginia. She earned her MA in cultural studies from the University of the Faroe Islands and is a recipient of the American-Scandinavian Foundation's Nadia Christensen Prize. MadHat Press published Ward’s second full-length poetry collection, Whipstitches, in 2016.
Presentation #3 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Please see above
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Thomas Alan Holmes, a member of the East Tennessee State University English faculty, lives in Johnson City. His work has or will appear in Louisiana Literature, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Appalachian Heritage, The Connecticut Review, North American Review, Still: The Journal, and The Southern Poetry Anthology Volume VI: Tennessee, Zone 3, Appalachian Journal, and The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Presentation #4 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Please see above.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Pamela Gibbs Hirschler is a mother of five who grew up in Hazard and studied creative writing at Morehead State University. Her poetry has appeared in Kudzu, Still: The Journal, and The Heartland Review. She received her MFA in Poetry from Drew University in 2017.
Presentation #5 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #5 Abstract or Summary
Please see above.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #5
Ali Hintz is an emerging poet from the Loyalsock valley in Northcentral Pennsylvania. Her work explores humanity’s relationship with the natural world. She is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia.
Presentation #6 Title
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Presentation #6 Abstract or Summary
Please see above.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #6
William Scott Hanna is a life-long resident of the Upper Ohio Valley where he teaches literature and writing at West Liberty University. His poetry and creative nonfiction has appeared in Heartwood Literary Magazine, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Still: The Journal, and Cleaver Magazine.
Conference Subthemes
Migration
A reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Volume 20: Appalachia:Stay or Go?
Please see above.
