The winning stories from the 2026 WVPB PBS KIDS Writers Contest are now available to read!
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
The Legislature This Week
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Commission, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Read our annual report and learn how we educate, inform and inspire with your support.
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
Make WVPB part of your legacy.
Manage your membership account.
Learn how you can Protect and Sustain West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
This week, one person’s roadside weed is another’s “golden” treasure. So says a North Carolina fiber artist.
We also talk with a children’s book author about a school system that suspended its community reading program over concerns about the sex of her book’s main character — an oak tree.
And, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is now available in every Kentucky community. We revisit our 2022 interview with the American icon.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
In This Episode:
Dede Styles in North Carolina uses common roadside plants to make natural dyes for fabrics. She teaches the craft, but it’s also part of a bigger mission for Styles.
Folkways Reporter Rebecca Williams brings us this story.
Floyd County schools in Virginia host a program called “One Division, One Book.” They distribute a copy of the same book to every family, with a schedule to read a few chapters each night. This year, the book was Wishtree, by Newbery Award winner Katherine Applegate, but partway through the reading, the school abruptly suspended the program.
Applegate recently visited Floyd and Mason Adams spoke with her.
One program that’s connecting rural counties with books is pop icon Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library.” Started in 1995, the childhood literacy program sends books to children all over the world at no charge to their families.
Last month, the program became available to all children aged five and under in Kentucky.
When that happened in West Virginia in 2022, Dolly Parton visited Charleston and spoke with former WVPB Executive Producer Suzanne Higgins.
——
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Sturgill Simpson, Todd Burge, Joe Dobbs and the 1937 Flood, Jeff Ellis, John Inghram, Dolly Parton and Gerry Milnes.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways editor Jennifer Goren.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
You can find us on Instagram, Threads and Twitter @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.
Sign-up for the Inside Appalachia Newsletter!
Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
This week, we’re revisiting a show featuring storytellers out loud in front of audiences. Folks like five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest, Bil Lepp. Also, musicians Anna & Elizabeth, whose storytelling used something known as a crankie. And, we’ll head to the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThis week’s Inside Appalachia features storytellers from around the region, including author, television host and five-time West Virginia Liars Contest winner Bil Lepp. Here he is back in 2019, telling a story during a Mountain Stage performance at the West Virginia Culture Center.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsDaniel Johnston recorded songs in his parents' basement in rural West Virginia that would eventually inspire artists such as Kurt Cobain, Beck, Wilco, and Sonic Youth. In this award-winning episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay explores the life, art, and enduring legacy of the late singer-songwriter and visual artist whose creative genius and struggles with bipolar disorder made him one of America's most influential outsider artists.
Continue Reading Take Me to More NewsThe late singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston grew up in West Virginia and came onto the indie music scene in the 1980s. Last year, Johnston was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame and he’s featured in the next episode of Us & Them. In this award-winning show, host Trey Kay learns about Johnston’s legacy which was partly shaped by his challenges with mental illness.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News
