Ron Rash is an American poet, short story writer and novelist, is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University.Rash was born in Chester, South Carolina, in 1953, grew up in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, and is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University and Clemson University. In 1994 he published his first book, a collection of short stories titled The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth. Since then, Rash has published three collections of poetry, three short story collections, and four novels, all to wide critical acclaim and several awards and honors. Rash's poems and stories have appeared in more than 100 magazines and journals over the years. With each new book, Rash has confirmed his position as a central and significant Appalachian writer alongside well-established names like Fred Chappell, Lee Smith, and Robert Morgan. Serena, Rash's latest novel, has received favorable reviews nationwide and was a 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist.
Women of a Promiscuous Nature (2026) Donna Everhart "A remarkable fusion of research and imagination, all that we hope for in the best historical fiction, but there is much more to admire here--vivid scenes, compelling characters, perfect pacing--but most impressive of all is Everhart's creation of Dorothy Baker, a woman who, as her past is slowly revealed, becomes so multifaceted that even in her most appalling moments we cannot ignore her humanity. She is one of the most memorable characters I've read in recent fiction, and further proof of Donna Everhart's immense talent."
In the Fullness of Time (2025) Terry Roberts "In Terry Roberts' excellent new novel, he describes the topography of western North Carolina with the attentiveness of a skilled landscape painter, but Roberts is equally attentive to the terrain of the human heart. His characters are not one-dimensional 'types.' Instead, they embody the complexities and contradictions of fully realized humans, most of all Clinton Salter, a good man torn between loyalty to the law and loyalty to family. In the Fullness of Time is yet another reminder of why Terry Roberts is one of our very finest novelists."
The Evening Shades (2025) Lee Martin "Lee Martin is a brilliant chronicler of small-town life, and in The Evening Shades, set in 1972, he vividly portrays two midwestern communities in the aftermath of a child's mysterious murder. Nevertheless, Martin's ultimate concerns are beyond time and place as he delves into the deepest, and often most unsettling, mysteries of all - those of the human heart."
Familiaris (2024) (Sawtelle Family, book 2) David Wroblewski "David Wroblewski is one of the few contemporary authors who can create a world that the reader doesn't merely visit but fully inhabits. And what a world it is, rich with love and joy and heartbreak. And wonder, especially in the way human and canine form inseparable bonds. It has been a long wait for a new Wroblewski novel. The wait is worth it."
Night Watch (2023) Jayne Anne Phillips "Jayne Anne Phillips is a wonderfully gifted storyteller, and few contemporary writers can match the lyricism of her prose, but in this marvelous new novel, largely set in a factual nineteenth-century asylum, she achieves even more: history and imagination merge, and she gives the past a living pulse."
Prophet Song (2023) Paul Lynch "Surely one of the most important novels of this decade."
Lighthouse Burning (2023) (Harlan Winter, book 1) Jordan Farmer "In his narrator, Hollis Bragg, Jordan Farmer has created a compelling character whose personal story and damaged body become emblematic of a whole region devastated by environmental destruction. The Poison Flood is a timely and important novel."
Sidle Creek (2023) Jolene McIlwain "In a lesser writer's hands, Jolene Mcllwain's hardscrabble characters could become one-dimensional, stereotypic, but her empathy is such that we never doubt our kinship to them and their ultimate concerns. These stories are artfully constructed and the writing vivid and precise, often poetic but never pretentious. Sidle Creek is one of the best story collections I've read in a long time."
Wind Drinkers (2023) Franck Bouysse "Though set in a rural village in mid-twentieth-century France, Wind Drinkers has such depths and incantatory powers that it is both of a time and timeless. Franck Bouysse's talent is such that his characters' seemingly humble lives achieve an epic resonance as they reveal the profoundest complexities of the human heart. A marvelous novel: ambitious, poetic, and unforgettable."
The Net Beneath Us (2022) Carol Dunbar "There are novels that we enjoy, but the most memorable ones, and The Net Beneath Us is one of these, leave readers with a sense that our lives have been enriched. An astonishing debut."
The White Rock (2022) Anna Hope "The White Rock is a sublime, poetic, and visionary work of art."
The Perfect Golden Circle (2022) Benjamin Myers "The beauty of Myers' language alone is reward enough to read this superb novel, but The Perfect Golden Circle offers so much more: an all-too-rare literary depiction of rural England, the depths of the two central characters, the class and ecological concerns; but most of all the human need for what the Welsh poet Bobi Jones called 'the boundless mystery that comforts being.' A truly remarkable novel."
Wingwalkers (2022) Taylor Brown "Clearly one of the best American writers of his generation."
Stay Gone Days (2022) Steve Yarbrough "There is so much to praise about this novel: the vivid, precise language, the expansiveness of the settings, how deeply we come to care about Caroline and Ella. But it all leads to this: we enter many books, but only a few enter us, then lodge in our consciousness as deeply as lived memories. Stay Gone Days is one of these. Steve Yarbrough is one of our country's finest living novelists."
Lioness (2022) Mark Powell "The best Appalachian novelist of his generation."
Shadowselves (2022) Jason Ockert "Jason Ockert would be worth reading for the luminescence of his prose alone, but the stories in Shadowselves are just as marvelous. In form and content, they constantly subvert our expectations, but somehow always lead us into the endless complexities of the human heart."
Even As We Breathe (2020) Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle "Even as We Breathe slowly builds from a seemingly simple tale of first love into a meditation on the deepest mysteries and contradictions of human existence. The novel's final paragraph is a particular marvel, rippling back through the book and carrying the reader with it into the sublime. Annette Clapsaddle is an exceptional writer, and an important voice in Appalachia's literature."
With or Without You (2020) Caroline Leavitt "After all of their lives are irrevocably altered by a single tragic incident, Stella, Simon, and Libby—the major characters in Caroline Leavitt’s compelling, deeply moving new novel—are forced to make complex choices between freedom and responsibility, love and loyalty. Leavitt depicts her characters without judgment, and by doing so compels readers to ask themselves what they might do in such difficult moments."
August (2020) Callan Wink "August is an exceptional coming-of-age story. Callan Wink is too wise and empathetic a writer to ever allow his readers easy judgments as we follow his memorable young protagonist on his precarious way through adolescence. An outstanding debut novel and worthy follow-up to Wink’s widely praised collection of stories."
Nothing More Dangerous (2019) (Max Rupert and Joe Talbert) Allen Eskens "Eskens vividly renders how small towns try to keep their secrets, and how sometimes they cannot."
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (2019) (Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, book 1) Kim Michele Richardson "Kim Michele Richardson has written a fascinating novel about people almost forgotten by history: Kentucky's pack-horse librarians and "blue people." The factual information alone would make this book a treasure, but with her impressive storytelling and empathy, Richardson gives us so much more."
The Vain Conversation (2018) Anthony Grooms "The Vain Conversation vividly evokes the horrors of American racism, but Anthony Grooms never denies the humanity of his characters, whether black or white, young or old. His novel achieves what only the best literature can give us: it refuses too-easy consolations or too-easy condemnations. When we finish the last page, the book is not finished with us. It will haunt us."
The Fighter (2018) Michael Farris Smith "An elegantly written, perfectly paced novel about a man and a woman, indelibly marked by violence."
Anatomy of a Miracle (2018) Jonathan Miles "Jonathan Miles has written a novel whose comic moments alone make it a wonderful read, but Anatomy of a Miracle quickly becomes so much more: an intense, and intensely profound, meditation on how an extraordinary event might test the limits of both scientific and religious belief. What a superb writer; what a superb book."
Winter Sisters (2018) (Mary Sutter, book 2) Robin Oliveira "After two young sisters vanish in a snowstorm, the whys and hows of their disappearance quickly become a compelling and increasingly complex mystery. Robin Oliveira renders nineteenth-century Albany, New York, with exactitude and vividness, but her novel’s ultimate concerns are timeless—suffering and healing, the loyalty to family versus loyalty to justice. I’ve long been a fan of Robin Oliveira’s work, and Winter Sisters only increases my admiration."
The Afterlives (2018) Thomas Pierce "Thomas Pierce's fine new novel is often humorous, but Jim Byrd's search to find out what might lie beyond this life makes The Afterlives much more: a poignant inquiry into our human desire for permanence."
Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) (Highway 59, book 1) Attica Locke "Bluebird, Bluebird has the impeccable pacing, memorable characters, and deepening sense of mystery and dread we expect in the finest noir thrillers. But this is so much more. Attica Locke has written a marvelous novel."
Safe (2017) Ryan Gattis "Safe is an immensely satisfying crime thriller, but it is also a deeply moving novel about one flawed man’s attempt to create good in a corrupt world. Ryan Gattis has a great ear for the patois of the street, and he reminds us that in 21st century America the worst predators often wear suits and work in offices."
The Barrowfields (2017) Phillip Lewis "Beautifully written and deeply moving, THE BARROWFIELDS is a novel that centers on a man conflicted between his love of family and his devotion to literature. Phillip Lewis is a very talented writer, and his debut deserves a wide and appreciative readership."
The Bones of Paradise (2016) Jonis Agee "A beautifully written epic that seamlessly intertwines a family's history with a region's, and, ultimately, with a nation's. This is an ambitious novel."
The Second Girl (2016) (Frank Marr, book 1) David Swinson "Like Dennis Lehane and Richard Price, David Swinson gives us a gritty urban crime novel populated with morally complex, utterly believable characters. Swinson knows how to build suspense, and he has a great ear for the patois of the streets, but it is detective Frank Marr's tightrope walk between his noble and darker impulses that makes The Second Girl such a rewarding read from start to finish."
Chasing the North Star (2016) Robert Morgan "Robert Morgan's true landscape is, as with great writers the peaks ans valleys, the long and winding paths, of the human heart."
Where All Light Tends to Go (2015) David Joy "David Joy has written a savage and moving account of a young man's attempt to transcend his family's legacy of violence. Where All Light Tends to Go is an outstanding debut and a fine addition to the country noir vein of Southern Literature."
Fate Moreland's Widow (2015) John Lane "John Lane has long been recognized as one of the South's finest poets and memoirists. This debut establishes him as one of our finest novelists as well. His poet's eye for detail seamlessly merges with a born storyteller's gift for narrative. Fate Moreland's Widow gives voice to those who endured one of the most painful and neglected chapters in American history."
The Convert's Song (2014) (Valentine Pescatore, book 2) Sebastian Rotella "The Convert's Song hooked me from its opening scene and kept me hooked to the very end. Sebastian Rotella has written a novel filled with suspense and intrigue, as well as real-world insights into those who commit terrorist acts and those who try to stop them."
Our Burden's Light (2010) Patrick Thomas Casey "Patrick Thomas Casey is an exciting new voice in American fiction, and this striking debut should give him a wide and appreciative audience."
Under This Unbroken Sky (2009) Shandi Mitchell "Dazzling... This depiction of Depression-era prairie life has a vividness and veracity that brings to mind Willa Cather's fiction. Mitchell is a writer of immense talent."
Saints in Limbo (2009) River Jordan "River Jordan's Saints in Limbo is a compelling story of the mysteries of existence and, specially, the mysteries of the human heart."
(b.1953)
