Inside Appalachia

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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Novel Shares Story Of Historical Black Kingdom In Western North Carolina

Following the American Civil War, a group of freed people fled violence and bought land in Western North Carolina. In the summer of 1873, these people formed a Black communal society they named “The Kingdom of the Happy Land.” A new novel tells a story set in the kingdom, both in the past and in the present day. It’s titled, “Happy Land.” Host Mason Adams spoke with its author, Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

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New Novel Explores Community Of Freed People And Our Song Of The Week, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, Inside Appalachia speaks to the author of a new novel about freed people after the Civil War and our Song of the Week.

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Mothman Potato Chips And Cutting Cement’s Carbon Emissions, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, Appalachia’s most famous cryptid is on a bag of chips, and efforts to reduce carbon emissions from cement production.

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