LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia

The authors on this panel are all included in LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. This first-of-its-kind anthology from WVU Press features work from twenty lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from America’s Appalachian Mountains. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to kin and the mountain landscape, but balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. What if many fellow inhabitants of your native region are hostile to your sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity? What if family members can’t comprehend or downright reject your queer desires? What if the fundamentalist Christianity you were brought up in condemns you for being LGBTQ, proclaims you a hell-bound sinner, and evokes in you self-doubt, self-loathing, or a crisis of faith? What if you feel compelled to hide your same-sex attractions in order to avoid the censure or violence of homophobia? What if, fearing that you’ll never have an honest and satisfying life if you stay in Appalachia, you move to an area more conducive to queer community and companionship, only to suffer from agonizing homesickness once away from the hills? What if, in the struggle to reconcile regional and sexual identities, you find yourself wedged between worlds, unable to belong fully in either? These are some of the hard questions these authors explore in their works