Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia
Session Abstract or Summary
The authors on this panel are all included in LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. This first-of-its-kind anthology from WVU Press features work from twenty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from America’s Appalachian Mountains. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to kin and the mountain landscape, but balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. What if many fellow inhabitants of your native region are hostile to your sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity? What if family members can’t comprehend or downright reject your queer desires? What if the fundamentalist Christianity you were brought up in condemns you for being LGBTQ, proclaims you a hell-bound sinner, and evokes in you self-doubt, self-loathing, or a crisis of faith? What if you feel compelled to hide your same-sex attractions in order to avoid the censure or violence of homophobia? What if, fearing that you’ll never have an honest and satisfying life if you stay in Appalachia, you move to an area more conducive to queer community and companionship, only to suffer from agonizing homesickness once away from the hills? What if, in the struggle to reconcile regional and sexual identities, you find yourself wedged between worlds, unable to belong fully in either? These are some of the hard questions these authors explore in their works.
Presentation #1 Title
LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The authors on this panel are all included in LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. This first-of-its-kind anthology from WVU Press features work from twenty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from America’s Appalachian Mountains. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to kin and the mountain landscape, but balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. What if many fellow inhabitants of your native region are hostile to your sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity? What if family members can’t comprehend or downright reject your queer desires? What if the fundamentalist Christianity you were brought up in condemns you for being LGBTQ, proclaims you a hell-bound sinner, and evokes in you self-doubt, self-loathing, or a crisis of faith? What if you feel compelled to hide your same-sex attractions in order to avoid the censure or violence of homophobia? What if, fearing that you’ll never have an honest and satisfying life if you stay in Appalachia, you move to an area more conducive to queer community and companionship, only to suffer from agonizing homesickness once away from the hills? What if, in the struggle to reconcile regional and sexual identities, you find yourself wedged between worlds, unable to belong fully in either? These are some of the hard questions these authors explore in their works.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jeff Mann has published three poetry chapbooks, five full-length books of poetry, two collections of personal essays, a volume of memoir and poetry, three novellas, six novels, and three collections of short fiction. The winner of two Lambda Literary Awards, he teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Maggie Anderson is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Dear All (Four Way Books, 2017). She is Professor Emerita from Kent State University and lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Nickole Brown is the author of Sister, first published in 2007 with a new edition reissued by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2018. Her second book, Fanny Says, came out from BOA Editions in 2015. Currently, she is the Editor for the Marie Alexander Poetry Series and teaches at the Sewanee School of Letters MFA Program. She lives with her wife, poet Jessica Jacobs, in Asheville, NC.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Mesha Maren is the author of Sugar Run (Algonquin Books). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, and Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Ucross Foundation. She is the 2018-2019 Kenan Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing Fellow at the Beckley Federal Correctional Institution.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #5
Julia Watts is the author of over a dozen novels, including the Lambda Literary Award-winning Finding H.F. She holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. She lives in Knoxville and is a Professor of English at South College. She was recently inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame, and her new young adult novel Quiver will be published by Three Rooms Press in October 2018.
LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia
The authors on this panel are all included in LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. This first-of-its-kind anthology from WVU Press features work from twenty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from America’s Appalachian Mountains. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to kin and the mountain landscape, but balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. What if many fellow inhabitants of your native region are hostile to your sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity? What if family members can’t comprehend or downright reject your queer desires? What if the fundamentalist Christianity you were brought up in condemns you for being LGBTQ, proclaims you a hell-bound sinner, and evokes in you self-doubt, self-loathing, or a crisis of faith? What if you feel compelled to hide your same-sex attractions in order to avoid the censure or violence of homophobia? What if, fearing that you’ll never have an honest and satisfying life if you stay in Appalachia, you move to an area more conducive to queer community and companionship, only to suffer from agonizing homesickness once away from the hills? What if, in the struggle to reconcile regional and sexual identities, you find yourself wedged between worlds, unable to belong fully in either? These are some of the hard questions these authors explore in their works.
