Red Holler

Book excerpt: New York Times–bestselling author Ron Rash joins 23 writers on Appalachian culture and community: “Buy this book, it's a barn burner!” (Dorothy Allison). Drawing on Appalachian literature’s roots in Native American myth, African American urban legend, and European folk culture, and embracing Appalachian urban fiction, the Southern Gothic, gritty no-holds-barred realism, and magical realism, the illuminating works in Red Holler perfectly depict what makes Appalachia so fascinating: its irreverent and outlaw challenges to mainstream notions of propriety and convention. “Enthusiasts of Appalachian literature will appreciate the breadth of work” in this extraordinarily diverse anthology of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and graphic narratives by fresh new voices alongside widely known and celebrated authors. We travel into housing projects, forest-stripped ravines, trailer parks, and communities ranging from Mississippi to New York to explore vibrant hometown and migrant Appalachian traditions, values, and society. Red Holler takes us over and beyond the stock imagery of rural mountain habitués and redefines this expansive and distinctive American landscape (Publishers Weekly).