"Now, Appalachia"

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia,  Eliot interviews Mississippi author Lee Durkee about his latest novel The Last Taxi Driver. Lee Durkee is the author of the novel  Rides of the Midway . His stories and essays have appeared in  Harper’s Magazine , the  Sun ,  Best of the Oxford American , Zoetrope: All-Story ,  Tin House ,  New England Review , and&...

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Amanda Eyre Ward about her latest novel "The Jetsetters." Amanda Eyre Ward is the author of Sleep Toward Heaven, How to Be Lost, Love Stories in This Town, Forgive Me, Close Your Eyes, The Same Sky, The Nearness of You, and The Jetsetters. Her bestselling novels have been featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, and more. Am...

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot talks to Kentucky author Carter Sickels about his latest novel "The Prettiest Star." Carter is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award, and has been awarded scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, VCCA, and the MacDowell Colony. His essays and fiction have appeared in various publicatio...

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot talks to mystery author Jess Montgomery about her latest novel "The Hallows," a sequel to her first novel "The Widows." Jess is is the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News and former Executive Director of the renowned Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Based on early chapters of The Hollows, Jess was awarded an Ohio Art...

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews author Matt Browning. Matt Browning is the author of "Bookstore Explorer: West Virginia," a celebration of the Mountain State's independent bookstores. He discusses the role that independent bookstores have within the cultural fabric of Appalachia and how independent bookstores throughout the country are often the center of the community...

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews thriller author John Vercher. John Vercher is a writer currently living in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He holds a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. His fiction has appeared on Akashic Books’ Mondays are Murder and...

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews South Carolina short story author Dustin M. Hoffman. Dustin painted houses in Michigan for ten years and is now an assistant professor of English at Winthrop University in South Carolina. His short fiction has appeared in many magazines, including Threepenny Review , Black Warrior Review , Puerto del Sol , Midwestern Gothic , and Cima...

On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews author Jordan Farmer. Originally from West Virginia, Jordan received a Ph. D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His stories have appeared in the Southwest Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Baltimore Review, Pembroke Magazine, Day One Magazine and many other publications. The Pallbearer, his first novel, is discussed ext...

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews poet January Gill O'Neil. January is the author of the new poetry collection Rewilding, as well as other collections titled Misery Islands and Underlife , published by CavanKerry Press. She is a board of trustees member with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) A Cave Canem fellow, January's poems and articles have appea...

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews Tennessee author Kimberly Collins. She grew up in Matewan, West Virginia and currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She discusses her latest novel, titled "Blood Creek: Mingo Chronicles: Book One." She is working on the second book in the Mingo Chronicles series titled "Mingo Chronicles: The Massacre."

On the latest episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with essayist Randal O'Wain. Randal O'Wain earned his MFA from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program. He is an 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 Beckley Federal Correctional Institution. O’Wain...

On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot interviews North Carolina author Elaine Neal Orr. Elaine Neil Orr is a writer of fiction, memoir, and literary criticism. With stories set in Nigeria and the American South, she delves into themes of home, country, and spiritual longing. Orr was born in Nigeria to medical missionary parents and spent her growing-up years in the savannahs and rain forests...

On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with author Kasey S. Pipes about his latest book "After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon." Kasey is the Norris Fellow at the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He also served as an advisor to President George W. Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Joe Walters is the former marketing director at Inkwater Press and is the founder and president of Independent Book Review since April 2018. During his time as the marketing and publicity director at Inkwater Press, he discovered how difficult it was for small press and self-published books to get the attention they deserved. In this interview, Joe discusses why its difficult for some books to get...

 On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with author John Billheimer. Billheimer, a native West Virginian, lives in Portola Valley, California. THE CONTRARY BLUES was the first book in the “funny, sometimes touching,” mystery series set in Appalachia and featuring failure analyst Owen Allison. A second mystery series featuring Lloyd Keaton, a Midwest sports writer with a gambling p...

 On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot speaks with essayist Brooke Larson about her new collection of essays "Pleasing Tree." They also discuss the genre of essays and what makes them unique for writers and readers. Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Brooke holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and is currently a PhD student in Poetry at the University of Lou...

David Bell is the USA Today -bestselling author of eight novels from Berkley/Penguin, He is an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University where he directs the MFA program in creative writing. and is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He discuss with Eliot his latest thriller novel "Layover" and how and MFA program can benefit writers.

 On this episode of "Now, Appalachia," Eliot talks with creative nonfiction author Christina Fisanick about her book "The Optimistic Food Addict," which discusses her personal struggle with food and weight and the complicated relationship food has with Appalachian people and their culture. They also discuss the first Northern Appalachian Writers Conference, scheduled for early September 2019....

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author interviews Karen Swallow Prior, an award-winning Professor of English at Liberty University. She earned her Ph. D. in English at SUNY Buffalo. Her writing has appeared at The Atlantic, Christianity Today, Washington Post, Vox, First Things, Sojourners, Relevant, Think Christian, and other places. She is a Senior Fellow at the Trinity...

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller writer Eliot Parker interviews Del Duduit. Del Duduit is an award-winning sportswriter and author. He has been published in Clubhouse Magazine, Sports Spectrum, and on ToddStarnes.com. He is a contributing writer for Athletes in Action, The Christian View, Bridges Magazine, and PM Magazine. He is the co-editor for Southern Ohio Christian Vo...

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network Host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews poet Rita Quillen. Rita Quillen’s novel Hiding Ezra was published in 2014 from Little Creek Books; it was a finalist in the 2005 DANA Awards competition, and a chapter of the novel is included in the new scholarly study of Appalachian dialect just published by the University of Kentucky Press entitled Talking...

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller writer Eliot Parker interviews Cat Pleska. Cat is an author, editor, educator, publisher, and storyteller. She often leads writing workshops in the community and is an essayist for West Virginia Public Radio, and a book reviewer for West Virginia University Press. She edited the anthology Fed from the Blade: Tales and Poems from the Mountai...

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host Eliot Parker welcomes author Sheryl Monks. Sheryl Monks is the author of Monsters in Appalachia, published by Vandalia Press, the creative imprint of West Virginia University Press. She holds an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Her stories have appeared in Rkvry Quarterly, Electric Literature, The Butter, The Greensboro Review, storyS...

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews Jessica Strawser. Jessica is the editorial director of Writer’s Digest magazine and the author of Almost Missed You and Not That I Could Tell. She has written for The New York Times Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other fine venues, and lives with her husband and two children in Cincinnati. 

Authors on the Air Global Radio Network host and thriller author Eliot Parker interviews Mesha Maren. Mesha Maren's debut novel, Sugar Run, is forthcoming from Algonquin Books in January 2019. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Tin House, Oxford American, Crazyhorse, Southern Cultures, Hobart, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2...