Winding Path Publishing, and Nancy Simpson, editor announces the release of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The sixty-eight writers and poets included, reside within the nine counties south of Asheville, on the Qualla Boundary and in bordering counties of Georgia and South Carolina. Members of the North Carolina Writers Network West conceived the idea of the anthology, raised funds and through their efforts brought it to fruition.
North Carolina author, Lee Smith said of this anthology, “Straight from the land of sky, song and story, another dynamic collection–strong and surprising.”
Noted educator, writer and poet, Robert Morgan writes in his introduction, “Beyond the storytelling, the ballads, the songs, the fiddle music, there is something profoundly poetic about the Southern Appalachian Mountains.”
“It is the work of writers to both celebrate the present and to remember the past. Much of the old culture of the mountains is passing or has already passed away. But I am happy to say that a great deal of that life is recovered and brought into connection with the present in the work of our current authors in Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Here you have the writing of renowned poet laureates such as Kathryn Stripling Byer and Bettie M. Sellers, alongside the work of newcomers whose writing gives me renewed confidence in the future of Appalachian literature.”
Among the local authors from Cherokee and Graham counties are the late Richard Argo, Peg Russell, Paul Donovan, Mary Ricketson, Shirley Uphouse, Estelle Rice, Sam Hoffer, William Reynolds, Ellie Wilson, Ellen Andrews and Marshall McClung. Other local writers in the book are Glenda C. Beall, Blanche Ledford, poets Linda M. Smith, Janice Townley Moore and Brenda Kay Ledford from Clay County.
Philip Sampson of Blairsville, GA made the photograph from which Katja Holmes of Atlanta designed the cover. Upon request, Steve Harvey, professor of English at Young Harris College and author of three books of personal essays, generously offered use of his work for the book.
Thomas Rain Crowe of the Tuckasegee community in western North Carolina, author of twenty books of original works, anthologies, and recordings also offered his work for the anthology.
Gary Carden, renowned playwright and story teller from Sylva, NC donated the proceeds from a special production of his play, Birdell, to NCWN West to help with costs involved in publishing Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. His work also appears in the anthology.
The anthology is dedicated to the memory of our Appalachian ballad poet Byron Herbert Reece.
Echoes Across the Blue Ridge is available at Curiosity Books in Murphy and Phillips and Lloyd Bookstore in Hayesville, NC.
