Writing
My writing is often concerned with Appalachia, queer survival, music, legacies of violence, and the sacredness of beings.
My fiction, creative nonfiction, and journalism can be found at Hotel Amerika, salt-front: studies in human habit(at), Palaver, and NPR.
I grew up in small-town Appalachia and received an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Publications
Literary Journals
- "The Gift that Destroyeth the Heart," Hotel Amerika, Volume 19, Winter 2021
- “Viole(n)ts,” saltfront: studies in human habit(at), Issue 7, Winter 2019
- “Strange Language,” Palaver Journal, Fall 2016
- “Making Ready,” Lute & Drum, Issue 7, 2016
Newspapers and Public Radio
- “South Carolina’s Negro Seamen Act,” Durham Herald-Sun, December 11, 2016
- “The Intentional Erasure of the Hayti District,” Durham Herald-Sun, January 10, 2016
- “Dr. Dog: The Black Hole of Modern Existence,” National Public Radio, January 31st, 2012
- “Billy Edd Wheeler: 'I Can’t Rock Anymore, But I Can Still Roll,'” National Public Radio, August 5, 2012
- “As N.C. Textile Jobs Fade, Denim Brightens Raleigh,” National Public Radio, April 23, 2012
- “From Knee-to-Knee to CD: The Evolution of Oral Tradition in Mountain Ballads,” National Public Radio, December 4, 2011
- “John Prine: A Look Back at One Man’s War,” National Public Radio, November 18, 2011
- “You’ve Never Heard of Gram Parsons’ ‘Grievous Angel’?!” National Public Radio, September 18, 2011
Blog Posts
- “Diary Foreshadows Conviction for Involvement in the Slave Trade,” The Devil's Tale, June 23, 2020
- “'The Arm of Justice Cannot—Will Not Sleep': Radical Republicans during Reconstruction in the South,” The Devil's Tale, February 7, 2020
- “Civil War Letters Grapple with Gender, Interracial Marriage, and Working-Class Life,” The Devil's Tale, June 28, 2018
- “Rob Amberg: Forty Years in Appalachia,” The Devil's Tale, November 10, 2015