Jason Kyle Howard – Appalachian Review

Monic Ductan on ‘Daughters of Muscadine’, Black Appalachians and the writers who have inspired her

Fall 2023 ♦

Interview

Monic Ductan was born and raised in north Georgia, so it’s only natural that her debut short story collection, Daughters of Muscadine, is set in that oft-overlooked part of rural Appalachia. A fictional town with a complex history, her Muscadine is home to several generations of Black, working-class, mountain families…

Tammy Oberhausen explores family, faith, hypocrisy and doubt in ‘The Evolution of the Gospelettes’

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Blog ♦

Fiction

The Evolution of the Gospelettes is a new novel by Tammy Oberhausen that is receiving tremendous praise these days, particularly among some of the best known names in Southern literature. It has been praised by the likes of Robert Morgan, Holly Goddard Jones, Jeff Zentner, and Lee Smith, who says…

In Conversation: Patricia L. Hudson

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Winter/Spring 2023 ♦

Interview

When she was writing Traces, her debut historical novel about Rebecca Boone, Patricia L. Hudson had a goal: to bridge the distance between present and past. “My goal…was to make readers feel immersed in these women’s thoughts and feelings, so that you felt as if you were moving through their…

Exclusive Cover Reveal: ‘Daughters of Muscadine’

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Blog ♦

Special Feature

Appalachian Review is pleased to reveal the cover for the debut book by Monic Ductan, Daughters of Muscadine: Stories, which will be published by Fireside Industries, an imprint of the University Press of Kentucky and Hindman Settlement School, in November. The nine linked short stories are connected by a 1920s…

Erin Keane talks ‘Runaway’

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Fall 2022 ♦

Interview

At a greasy spoon in Louisville, Erin Keane dissects a phrase she holds in particular contempt: It was a different time. She spits it out over the clatter of dishes and shouted orders coming from the nearby kitchen, rolling her expressive eyes for good measure. The weaselly wording, she believes,…

Two Essays on Best American Essays 2022 Notables List

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Blog ♦

Best American Essays

Congratulations to Martha Grace Duncan and Jake Maynard, whose essays “Cattle Upon a Thousand Hills” and “This American Fife” were named as Notable in Best American Essays 2022. The essays were selected by series editor Alexander Chee and series editor Robert Atwan. We’re also thrilled that essays by Appalachian Review contributors Silas House,…

2021 Denny C. Plattner Awards

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Blog ♦

Plattner Awards

We are proud to announce the winners of the annual Denny C. Plattner Awards, which were established in 1995 by Kenneth and Elissa Plattner to honor their late son and his love of writing. The awards are given to the finest pieces of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that appeared…

In Conversation: Marianne Worthington

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Winter 2022 ♦

Interview

As a child growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the 1950s and 1960s, Marianne Worthington was surrounded and subsumed by country music. Her parents often tuned their television set to WATE, the local station that aired Knoxville businessman-turned-mayor Cas Walker’s Farm and Home Hour variety show, which featured established and…

In Conversation: Jayne Moore Waldrop

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Fall 2021 ♦

Interview

In “For What It’s Worth,” one of the stories that populate Jayne Moore Waldrop’s tender, linked story collection Drowned Town, a character muses about “generational labor.” The notion is at the heart of this book, which considers how the federal government’s seizure of land in western Kentucky to create two…

In Conversation: Shawna Kay Rodenberg

Jason Kyle Howard ♦

Spring 2021 ♦

Interview

There’s a certain amount of defiance hovering between Shawna Kay Rodenberg’s words as she discusses Kin, her debut memoir slated for publication by Bloomsbury in June—and after spending time with her searching, resilient book, it is easy to understand why. Kin recounts her family’s exile from their native Eastern Kentucky…