Appalachian Prison Book Project

Arts & Culture Bill Lynch +, Sep. 26, 2025

Encore: The Grand March And A Year After A Denied Abortion, Inside Appalachia

This week, for nearly a century, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival has staged a formal dance. Organizers rely on a manual that’s been passed down for generations. Also, abortion is illegal in most cases in Tennessee. So what happens after a birth? A photographer followed one mother for a year. And, new prisons are touted as a way to bring jobs to former coal communities. Not everybody agrees the trade-off is worth it.

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Arts & Culture Mason Adams, May. 28, 2025

Award-Winning Book Reveals Why Books Are Important For Incarcerated Appalachians

Each year Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association present the Weatherford Awards. They honor books about the Appalachian South. The winner of the 2024 award for nonfiction is titled, This Book is Free and Yours to Keep. It consists largely of letters from incarcerated people across the region who corresponded with the Appalachian Prison Book Project. Ellen Skirvin is one of the book’s editors.

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Government Maria Young, May. 24, 2025

Federal Protests Hit Home And Tall Tale Telling Tips, This West Virginia Week

The top stories in West Virginia this week include a protest against federal cuts, a plan to change what SNAP benefits can buy and efforts to stabilize the state employees insurance agency.

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Arts & Culture Bill Lynch +, May. 23, 2025

Appalachian Prison Book Project, Inside Appalachia

This week, Inside Appalachia, the Appalachian Prison Book Project has been sending books to incarcerated people for nearly 20 years. Its most popular book is the dictionary. Also, the Seeing Hand Association brings together people who are visually impaired to learn the craft of chair caning. And, crossing a river by ferry can be a special experience, and hard to come by. On the Ohio River, a retiring ferry captain passes the torch to his deck hand.

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Arts & Culture WVPB Staff, May. 23, 2025

A Book Of Letters From Prison Wins Award And Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, a book from the Appalachian Prison Book Project wins an award, and our Song of the Week.

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Government Chris Schulz, Jan. 18, 2025

Inaugurations, Inclusive Communities And Prison Books This West Virginia Week

On this West Virginia Week, the governor and the state's newest senator took their oaths of office. We’ll also hear about an inclusive community, as well as changing access to books in Tennessee’s prisons, and we explore the past and future of a historic building in Shepherdstown.

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