"Now, Appalachia"

On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back Randal O'Wain to the show to talk about his latest work, a collection of short stories titled HALLELUJAH STATION AND OTHER STORIES. Randal is the author of Meander Belt: Family, Loss, and Coming of Age in the Working Class South. He is assistant teaching professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as a National Endowment of the Arts Writing fellow at the Alderson Federal Correctional Institution. His work has been published in Oxford American, The Masters Review, Crazyhorse, Zone 3, and Guernica Magazine.

On this episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jamie Poissant. is the author of The Heaven of Animals: Stories, in print in five languages, winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a Florida Book Award, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, One Story, Ploughshares, and others. He teaches in the MFA program at the University of Central Florida and lives in Orlando with his wife and daughters. Lake Life is his first novel.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author David Joy about his latest novel WHEN THESE MOUNTAINS BURN. David is the author of The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). His stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of publications, and he is the author of the memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey and a co-editor for Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing. Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Edward Farmer about his new novel PALE. Edward A. Farmer is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, where he journaled and cultivated stories his entire childhood. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a degree in English and psychology, and recipient of the MacArthur-Leithauser Travel Award for creative writing. He currently lives and writes in Pasadena, California. Pale is his first novel.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews writer Karen Salyer McElmurray about her latest novel WANTING RADIANCE. Karen Salyer McElmurray won an AWP Award for creative nonfiction for her book Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother's Journey and the Orison Award for creative nonfiction for her essay "Blue Glass." She has had other essays recognized as "Notable Essays" in Best American Essays, while her essays "Speaking Freely" and "Attics" were nominated for Pushcart Awards. She currently teaches at Gettysburg College and in West Virginia Wesleyan's Low-Residency MFA program.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews North Carolina author Meagan Lucas. Meagan Lucas is the author of the Southern Literary Fiction novel SONGBIRDS AND STRAY DOGS. Her short work has appeared in: The Santa Fe Writer's Project, The New Southern Fugitives, Still: The Journal, and The Blue Mountain Review among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction. Meagan teaches English Composition at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, and lives with her husband and children in Hendersonville, NC.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Katherine St. John about her novel THE LION'S DEN. Katherine is a native of Mississippi and graduate of the University of Southern California. Over the years she has worked as an actress, screenwriter, director, photographer, producer, singer-songwriter, legal assistant, bartender-waitress, yoga instructor, real estate agent, and travel coordinator . . . but finds she likes writing novels best. Katherine currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews thriller writer Meghan Holloway about her latest novel HUNTING GROUND. Meghan lives in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains with her standard poodle and spends her days as a scientist with the requisite glasses, but minus the lab coat.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio poet Darren Demaree. Darren C. Demaree is a graduate of the College of Wooster, Miami University (MA), and Kent State University (MLIS). He is the recipient of a 2018 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. "Emily As Sometimes the Forest Wants the Fire" is his eleventh collection of poetry.

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back fiction novelist Jordan Farmer to talk about his new book THE POISON FLOOD. Jordan was born and raised in a small town in West Virginia, population approximately 2,000. He earned his M.A. from Marshall University and his Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.