News and Spotlights from the Center for Appalachian Studies

BOONE, N.C. — The new issue of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review (vol. 52, no. 3) focuses on the many talented and brilliant visual artists who call Appalachia home and whose work often depicts and engages with the region …

BOONE, N.C. — Jesse Barber ’24, an alumnus of the Appalachian studies program, has been a key documentarian in media efforts to cover the stories Western North Carolina mountain communities after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. His photography, writing …

BOONE, N.C. — The new Appalachian Journal (vol. 51, no. 1-2) features a tribute to Marie Cirillo, an exploration of underrated bestselling writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull, new poems, book reviews of recent publications and an interview with Leigh Ann Henion on her …

SOUTHERN LIVING—Jesse Barber focuses his camera with the quiet pensiveness of a mountain man—someone who appreciates the solace of a porch rocker, the depth of a Blue Ridge vista. A Morganton resident, Barber has lived his whole life in the …

BOONE, N.C. — The new Appalachian Journal (vol. 51, no. 3-4) celebrates the life and career of Gurney Norman, Appalachian writer, documentarian, English professor and Kentucky Poet Laureate (2009-10). Norman is the author of Divine Rights Trip: A Folk-Tale (1972), …

By Lauren Gibbs BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Cory as the third editor of Appalachian Journal. “On behalf of my co-chair, Katherine Ledford, as …

By Sara Jones Alexander Hooker’s journey to old-time folk music started gradually, then suddenly. He has been a professor of Appalachian Strings here at App State for 25 years. Looking back, he reflects on where his path to teaching music …

By Yndiana Montes-Fogelquist, edited by Lauren Gibbs BOONE, N.C. — The 47th Annual Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) Conference will be held on the campus of Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, for the first time from March 7 through 9, 2024. …

By Jan Todd BOONE, N.C. — At Appalachian State University, Mountaineers have a preference in the pronunciation of Appalachian: “appa-latch-un.” According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary and several others, both “appa-latch-un” and “appa-lay-shun,” an alternative pronunciation, are acceptable. The history …

BOONE, N.C. — On September 26, 2023, Appalachian State University welcomed Chilean-born visual storyteller and community activist Rodrigo Dorfman for a public lecture titled “The Making of the Nuevo South.” The event, held at the Turchin Center for the Visual …

By Barbara Kingsolver NEW YORK TIMES—Barbara Kingsolver, whose Pulitzer-winning “Demon Copperhead” offered a variegated portrait of the region, guides readers through a literary…

By Lauren Anderson, edited by Jessica Stump BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review marks its 50th anniversary this academic year, with the journal’s semicentennial volume set to publish later this spring.