Appalachian Visions series to host award-winning author Bob Sloan
January 29, 2004

Appalachian Visions, Mountain State University's popular series of lectures, performances and discussions, will host an evening with Kentucky writer Bob Sloan, author of Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories from Appalachia. Sloan, who is also known as a commentator on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, will speak at 7 pm on Tuesday, February 10, in the John W. Eye Conference Center on the MSU campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Published last year, Bearskin to Holly Fork is nominated for such prestigious honors as Berea College's Weatherford Award and a Kentucky Literary Award. It has also drawn high praise from some of the region's best writers. Lee Smith describes Bearskin to Holly Fork as a “fine debut collection of tough, true stories," and Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler calls Sloan “a downright fine storyteller."

Sloan is a past recipient of the Paul Sidwell Memorial Award and an Eric L. Clitheroe Prize. In 2000 he was the Gold Medalist in the essay division of the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition, sponsored by the Faulkner Society of New Orleans. His radio commentaries, which have aired nationally since 2001, have been recognized with an award from the National Professional Association of Public Radio News Directors.

Sloan has published short fiction in numerous quarterlies and magazines such as Appalachian Heritage, Potpourri, and Buffalo Spree; his poetry has appeared in Wind, kentucky poetry review, Misnomer and others. His other works include three audio books and a column in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

Sloan majored in creative writing at Purdue University and now writes full-time and teaches creative writing workshops. He is the third-generation owner of a small farm east of Morehead, Ky., where he and his wife Julie live with three big dogs and, in his words, “an embarrassing number of cats."

For nearly a decade, the Appalachian Visions series has worked to bring the best of regional scholarship and arts to southern West Virginia. The popularity of the series reflects not only its diversity-with programming drawn from Appalachia's history, culture, literature, music, and traditional arts-but also its relaxed atmosphere that encourages broad participation and open discussion. All Appalachian Visions events are free and open to the public.

The series is made possible in part through the financial support of private donors. For more information on upcoming programs and opportunities for support, contact Vanessa Thompson at Mountain State University (304.929.1318) or e-mail appyvisions@mountainstate.edu.