Contributors to this issue

Contributors to this issue Matthew J. Bruccoli, the Jeffries Professor of English at the University of South Carolina, was instrumental in the decision by the University of South Carolina Press to publish or reprint ten of Mary Lee Settle's books. Dr. Bruccoli is a leading authority on F. Scott Fitzgerald and the editor of the Dictionary ofLiterary Biography. Thomas Caplan, a founder of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, is the author of three novels, most recently Grace and Favor (1998) from St. Martins. He lives in Maryland and frequently travels to England. Fred Chappell served as Poet-Laureate of North Carolina from 1997-2004. A founding member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, he was the featured author for the Summer 2003 issue of Appalachian Heritage. Chappell is the author of dozens of books in many genres including A Fred Chappell Reader (1987) from St. Martin's Press. Ron Day grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky, and serves as Assistant Director of Bell County Libraries, based in Pineville, Kentucky. Janice Delaney served as the Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Awards for twenty years. She is co-author of The Curse (1988) published by the University of Illinois Press and teaches English at Georgetown University. Steve Denton and his wife, Berthelle, were friends and landlords of Mary Lee Settle in Kinsale, Virginia, early in this decade. Thomas E. Douglass has written extensively on West Virginia literature, and is the author of A Room Forever: The Life, Work and Letters ofBreece D'J Pancake (1998). He is Professor of English at East Carolina University and Editor of the Appalachian Echoes Series for the University of Tennessee Press. Sidney Saylor Farr grew up on Stoney Fork of Straight Creek in Bell County, Kentucky, and served as editor of Appalachian Heritage from 1985-1999. She is the author of seven books including More Than Moonshine (1995). George Garrett is the author of Understanding Mary Lee Settle (1988) and the subject of Understanding George Garrett (1988) by R. H. W. Dillard. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, he has been given lifetime achievement awards by the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the Library of Virginia. He has published books and articles in almost every genre. 113 Denise Giardina was born and raised in West Virginia and has run for governor of that state. She is the author of five novels with settings in West Virginia, England and Germany including The Unquiet Earth (1992) set in West Virginia. She teaches at West Virginia State University. James B. Goode grew up the son of a coal miner and went on to found the Appalachian Center at Southeast Community College near his hometown in Harlan County, Kentucky. He is the author of six books of poetry and non-fiction, including Up From the Mines (1993). The featured author for the Spring 2003 issue of Appalachian Heritage, he currently teaches at Bluegrass Community & Technical College in Lexington, Kentucky. Nancy Carol Joyner is Professor Emerita of English at Western Carolina University. She has written several articles on Mary Lee Settle and other Appalachian women writers and recently chaired SAMLA. Chuck Kinder is a West Virginia native who serves as Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of works in multiple genres including, most recently, The Last Mountain Dancer: Hard-Earned Lessons in Love, Loss and Honky-Tonk Outlaw Life (2004). Gretchen Moran Laskas won both the Weatherford Award and the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year Award for her first novel, TheMidwife's Tale (2003), and she was the featured author for the Winter 2005 issue of Appalachian Heritage. Her family has deep roots in West Virginia. Starling Lawrence was Mary Lee Settle's editor and is editor-in-chief at W.W. Norton. He is also the author of a novel and a story collection. His latest novel, The Lightning Keeper, is forthcoming from HarperCollins. Kate Long produces programs for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and is the writing coach for the Charleston Gazette. Her Settle Interview is part of In Their Own Country, her national award-winning radio series on fourteen of West Virginia's best...