Sandra L. Ballard and Patricia L. Hudson, eds. Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
The first comprehensive Appalachian anthology of writing by women, Listen Here contains selections of poetry and prose by 105 writers, with a short biography and recommended sources for each author. The book includes a chronology of works (1826-2003) and a bibliography of other works by women writing in Appalachian in all genres. See the Table of Contents by author and review excerpts at UP of KY web site.
This thematic table of contents by the editors (which does not appear in the book) is reprinted here with their permission. If you use it for your own reading or teaching and have comments or suggestions, please write to Sandra L. Ballard.
LISA ALTHER
from Five Minutes in HeavenSYLVIA TRENT AUXIER
“Cicada’s Song”ANN COBB
“The Boy”LOU CRABTREE
“Homer-Snake”ANN DEAGON
“The Hole”DENISE GIARDINA
from Storming HeavenNIKKI GIOVANNI
“Knoxville, Tennessee”CONNIE JORDAN GREEN
from The War at HomeVIRGINIA HAMILTON
from M.C. Higgins, The GreatBARBARA KINGSOLVER
from The Bean TreesLLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“Music”KAREN MCELMURRAY
from Mother of the DisappearedHEATHER ROSS MILLER
from The Edge of the Woods
“Seventh Grades”MARIJO MOORE
“Rumors”JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS
from Machine DreamsLYNN POWELL
“The Calling”RITA QUILLEN
“Discovered”ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS
from The Time of ManCYNTHIA RYLANT
from Missing MayELLEN HARVEY SHOWELL
from Our MountainLEIGH ALLISON WILSON
from “The Raising”
MARILOU AWIAKTA
“Anorexia Bulimia Speaks from the Grave”LISA COFFMAN
“About the Pelvis”ANN DEAGON
“Twins”ANGELYN DEBORD
from Praise HouseHILDA DOWNER
“A woman is segmented as an ant”DENISE GIARDINA
from Storming HeavenPAULETTA HANSEL
“She”LINDA PARSONS MARION
“To My Daughter Going Off to College”
“Welcome to the Other Side”JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE
“The Way Back”RITA QUILLEN
“I Used To Be a Teacup”DANA WILDSMITH
“Our Bodies Remember”
SHEILA KAY ADAMS
“The Easter Frock”DOROTHY ALLISON
from Bastard Out of CarolinaJO CARSON
from DaytripsAMY TIPTON CORTNER
“The Hillbilly Vampire”
“The Vampire Ethnographer”ANN DEAGON
“Twins” & BroadsideMARY HODGES
“Ms. Ida Mae”LEE HOWARD
“The Last Unmined Vein”BARBARA KINGSOLVER
from The Bean TreesLISA KOGER
from “Extended Learning”LILY MAY LEDFORD
from Coon Creek GirlBELINDA ANN MASON
Gifts of the SpiritMARY NOAILLES MURFREE
from In the Tennessee MountainsANNE NEWPORT ROYALL
from Sketches of History, Life, and Manners...ANNE SHELBY
“Why I Write”
“Fat Sestina”
“Spellcheck”LEE SMITH
from Saving GraceADRIANA TRIGIANI
from Big Stone Gap
DOROTHY ALLISON
from Bastard Out of CarolinaHARRIETTE ARNOW
“First Ride”FLORENCE COPE BUSH
from Dorie: Woman of the MountainsKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Lineage” & “Bittersweet”JO CARSON
“The day I married...”
from DaytripsANGELYN DEBORD
from Praise HouseNIKKY FINNEY
“Irons at Her Feet”LUCY FURMAN
from Sight to the BlindPAULETTA HANSEL
“To her mother, lying in state”LEE HOWARD
“Momma’s Letter”JANE WILSON JOYCE
“Hooked Album Quilt, 1870”LEATHA KENDRICK
from “No Place Like Home”BARBARA KINGSOLVER
from The Bean TreesLINDA PARSONS MARION
“To My Daughter Going Off to College”
“Welcome To the Other Side”JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS
from Machine DreamsBARBARA PRESNELL
“In The Kitchen We String Beans”RITA QUILLEN
“JULY 18, 1966”BETSY SHOLL
“Appalachian Winter”
KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Easter”EDITH SUMMERS KELLEY
from WeedsLEATHA KENDRICK
“Refusing a Spinal”LLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“The Hollow” & “Music”LOUISE MCNEILL
“Hill Daughter”JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE
“All Those Nights”BETTIE SELLERS
“Pink”BENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“My Father, His Rabbits”VERNA MAE SLONE
from What My Heart Wants to TellJANE STUART
from TransparenciesDANA WILDSMITH
“Force”SYLVIA WILKINSON
from Shadow of the Mountain
LISA ALTHER
from Five Minutes in HeavenLOLETTA CLOUSE
from WilderNIKKY FINNEY
“Queen Ida’s Hair-Doing House of Waves”DENISE GIARDINA
from The Unquiet EarthGAIL GODWIN
from A Southern FamilyCATHERINE LANDIS
from Some Days There’s PieLINDA PARSONS MARION
“Good Luck Charm”CATHERINE MARSHALL
from ChristyJEANNE MCDONALD
from “Up the Hill Toward Home”BETTIE SELLERS
“Legacy for Rachel”ELLEN HARVEY SHOWELL
from Our MountainADRIANA TRIGIANI
from Big Stone GapSYLVIA WILKINSON
from Shadow of the Mountain
AMY TIPTON CORTNER
“The Hillbilly Vampire”
“The Vampire Ethnographer”MURIEL DRESSLER
“Appalachia”CORRA M. HARRIS
from A Circuit Rider’s WifeMILDRED HAUN
from “The Hawk’s Done Gone”SHARYN MCCRUMB
from The SongcatcherLLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“The Hollow”MARIJO MOORE
“Rumors”BARBARA PRESNELL
“Clarissa and the Second Coming”BETSY SHOLL
“Appalachian Winter”MEREDITH SUE WILLIS
“My Boy Elroy”
MAGGIE ANDERSON
“Long Story”
“A Place Filled with Promise”MARILOU AWIAKTA
from SeluREBECCA CAUDILL
from My AppalachiaANN COBB
“Kivers” & “The Widow Man”AMY TIPTON CORTNER
“No Minority”ANNIE DILLARD
from Pilgrim at Tinker CreekMURIEL MILLER DRESSLER
“Appalachia”SIDNEY SAYLOR FARR
from More Than MoonshineDENISE GIARDINA
from The Unquiet EarthCONNIE JORDAN GREEN
from The War at HomeELLESA CLAY HIGH
from Past Titan RockMARY JOHNSTON
from The Long RollMARY HARRIS “MOTHER” JONES
from The Autobiography of Mother JonesLILY MAY LEDFORD
from Coon Creek GirlGEORGE ELLA LYON
“where I’m from”
“Rings”LLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“For My Grandmother Who Knows How”
“The Hollow”LOUISE MCNEILL
from Milkweed LadiesMARIJO MOORE
“Rumors”ANNE NEWPORT ROYALL
from Sketches of History...EMMA BELL MILES
from The Spirit of the MountainsMARY LEE SETTLE
from The Killing Ground
from AddieBENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“Homecoming”EFFIE WALLER SMITH
“Memories of Home”
HARRIETTE ARNOW
from Seedtime on the CumberlandFLORENCE COPE BUSH
from Dorie, Woman of the MountainsKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Wildwood Flower”JO CARSON
“The day I married...”
“I am asking you to come back home”ANN COBB “Kivers”
SIDNEY SAYLOR FARR
from More than Moonshine
“Granny Brock”GLORIA HOUSTON
“My Great Aunt Arizona”NIKKY GIOVANNI
“Griots”JANE WILSON JOYCE
“Hooked Album Quilt, 1870”MAY JUSTUS
“Weather Rhymes”LLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“For My Grandmother Who Knows How”JANE MERCHANT
“Lanterns and Lamps”
“First Plowing in the Hills”MARIJO MOORE
“Story is a Woman” (shaped poem)MARY NOAILLES MURFREE
from In the Tennessee MountainsBARBARA PRESNELL
“In the Kitchen We String Beans”JEAN RITCHIE
from Singing Family of the Cumberlands
LOLETTA CLOUSE
from WilderANNE DEAGON
BroadsideDENISE GIARDINA
from The Unquiet EarthLINDA PARSONS MARION
“Good Luck Charm”TRUDA WILLIAMS MCCOY
from The McCoysRITA QUILLEN
“Discovered”BETTIE SELLERS
“Mornings, Sheba Combs Her Hair”
“Morning of the Red-Tailed Hawk”BENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“Homecoming”DANA WILDSMITH
“Our Bodies Remember”
ANNE ARMSTRONG
from This Day and TimeKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Wildwood Flower”JO CARSON
from “Maybe”LOU CRABTREE
“Sports Widow”OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
from Call Home the HeartMILDRED HAUN
from “The Hawk’s Done Gone”MARY HODGES
“Ms. Ida Mae”GEORGE ELLA LYON
“Rings”BELINDA ANN MASON
Gifts of the SpiritLLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“Music”MURIEL EARLEY SHEPPARD
from Cabins in the LaurelLOUISE MCNEILL
“The Other Woman”DANA WILDSMITH
“Economy”
“A Dry Spring”
“Our Bodies Remember”
HARRIETTE ARNOW
from Hunter’s Horn
“First Ride”SUE ELLEN BRIDGERS
from Sara WillKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Bittersweet”LILLIE D. CHAFFIN
“Second Christmas”
“Spending the Night” & “Discipline”OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
from Call Home the HeartANN DEAGON
“Giving the Sun”HILDA DOWNER
“Every open space fills with sky”WILMA DYKEMAN
from The French BroadLEATHA KENDRICK
from “No Place Like Home”BARBARA KINGSOLVER
from The Bean TreesLISA KOGER
from “Extended Learning”GRACE LUMPKIN
from To Make My BreadKAREN MCELMURRAY
from Mother of the DisappearedLLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“Many Waters”
“Mother’s Milking”LOUISE MCNEILL
“Aubade to Fear (Heavy with Child)”HEATHER ROSS MILLER
“Breadstuff”JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE
“The Way Back”JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS
from MotherkindLYNN POWELL
“Nativity” & “Echocardiogram”BARBARA PRESNELL
“When You Lose a Child”
“Clarissa and the Second Coming”RITA QUILLEN
“Woman Writer”BETTIE SELLERS
“Pink”BENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“Kathy”BARBARA SMITH
“And This is The Way To Be Poor”MEREDITH SUE WILLIS
“My Boy Elroy”LEIGH ALLISON WILSON
from “The Raising”
SYLVIA AUXIER
“When Grandmother Wept”MAGGIE ANDERSON
“Sonnet for Her Labor”ANNE ARMSTRONG
from This Day and TimeKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Wildwood Flower”OLIVE TILFORD DARGAN
from Call Home the HeartWILMA DYKEMAN
from Return the Innocent EarthSARAH BARNWELL ELLIOTT
from The Durkett SperretSIDNEY SAYLOR FARR
from More Than MoonshineNIKKY FINNEY
“Queen Ida’s Hair-Doing House of Waves”GEORGE ELLA LYON
“Salvation”LILY MAY LEDFORD
from Coon Creek GirlHEATHER ROSS MILLER
“Breadstuff”BARBARA PRESNELL
“In The Kitchen We String Beans”ANNE NEWPORT ROYALL
from Sketches of History, Life, and Manners...BETTIE SELLERS
“Legacy for Rachel”
“Liza’s Monday”MARY LEE SETTLE
from AddieBARBARA SMITH
“And This is The Way To Be Poor”ARIANA TRIGIANI
from Big Stone GapDANA WILDSMITH
“New Poor”
MARILOU AWIAKTA
“Anorexia Bulimia Speaks from the Grave”
from SeluARTIE ANN BATES
“Belinda, Our Tremendous Gift”CANDIE CARAWAN
from Song for FreedomLOLETTA CLOUSE
from WilderLISA COFFMAN
“In Envy of Migration”
“Maps”DORIS DAVENPORT
“Country”
“for Dr. Josefina Garcia & the ‘Tissue Committee’” & “zora neale”REBECCA HARDING DAVIS
from Life in the Iron MillsDENISE GIARDINA
from Storming HeavenNIKKI GIOVANNI
“Revolutionary Dreams”LEE HOWARD
“The Last Unmined Vein”MARY HARRIS “MOTHER” JONES
from The Autobiography of Mother JonesGEORGE ELLA LYON
from With a Hammer for My HeartIRENE MCKINNEY
“Twilight in West Virginia...”
“Deep Mining”MARY LEE SETTLE
from AddieBARBARA SMITH
“And This is The Way To Be Poor”MARY ELIZABETH WITHERSPOON
from The Morning Cool
SYLVIA TRENT AUXIER
“When Grandmother Wept”MARILOU AWIAKTA
from Selu
“Out of Ashes Peace Will Rise”ARTIE ANN BATES
“Belinda, Our Tremendous Gift”FLORENCE COPE BUSH
from Dorie: Woman of the MountainsCANDIE CARAWAN
from Song for FreedomANN DEAGON
BroadsideNIKKY FINNEY
from “Queen Ida’s Hair-Doing ...”
“Irons at Her Feet”MARIJO MOORE
“Story is a Woman” (shaped poem)
“Solidarity in the Night”EMMA BELL MILES
from The Spirit of the MountainsRITA QUILLEN
“I Used To Be A Teacup”ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS
from The Time of Man
HARRIETTE ARNOW
“First Ride”SYLVIA TRENT AUXIER
“Neighbors”KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Easter”
“Mountain Time”DORIS DAVENPORT
“for Dr. Josefina Garcia ...”ANGELYN DEBORD
from Praise HouseSARAH BARNWELL ELLIOTT
from The Durkett SperretNIKKI GIOVANNI
“Revolutionary Dreams”PAULETTA HANSEL
“She”CORRA HARRIS
from A Circuit Rider’s WifeMILDRED HAUN
from “The Hawk’s Done Gone”LEATHA KENDRICK
“The Familiar Level”
“Refusing a Spinal”BARBARA KINGSOLVER
from The Bean TreesLILY MAY LEDFORD
from Coon Creek GirlEMMA BELL MILES
from The Spirit of the MountainsANNE NEWPORT ROYALL
from Sketches of History, Life...SYLVIA WILKINSON
from Shadow of the Mountain
MAGGIE ANDERSON
“Long Story”
“A Place Filled with Promise”HARRIETTE ARNOW
“First Ride”SYLVIA TRENT AUXIER
“Cicada’s Song”MARILOU AWIAKTA
“When Earth Becomes an ‘It’”LILLIE D. CHAFFIN
“The Glad Gardener”LISA COFFMAN
“Tick”LOU CRABTREE
“Homer-Snake”ANNIE DILLARD
from Pilgrim at Tinker CreekHILDA DOWNER
“This is what history is”MURIEL MILLER DRESSLER
“Elegy for Jody”WILMA DYKEMAN
from Return the Innocent Earth
from The French BroadSIDNEY SAYLOR FARR
“Mountains Fill Up the Night”
“Appalachia, Where are your Hills?”JANICE HOLT GILES
from Hannah FowlerELLESA CLAY HIGH
from Past Titan RockLEE HOWARD
“The Last Unmined Vein”JANE WILSON JOYCE
“Life and Art in East Tennessee”BARBARA KINGSOLVER
from Prodigal SummerLINDA PARSONS MARION
“Mulberries”KATHY L. MAY
“Rain”LLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“Many Waters”LOUISE MCNEILL
“Arrow Grasses by Greenbrier River”EMMA BELL MILES
from The Spirit of the MountainsJANE MERCHANT
“First Plowing in the Hills”JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE
“Under the Earth”MARY NOAILLES MURFREE
from In the Tennessee MountainsELAINE FOWLER PALENCIA
“Briers”BARBARA PRESNELL
“Snake Dreams”ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS
from The Time of ManBETTIE SELLERS
“Liza’s Monday”
“Morning of the Red-Tailed Hawk”BENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“Backwoods Haiku”ELLEN HARVEY SHOWELL
from Our Mountain
FRANCES COURTENAY BAYLOR
from Behind the Blue RidgeKATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Easter”WILMA DYKEMAN
from The French BroadLUCY FURMAN
from Sight to the BlindCORRA HARRIS
from A Circuit Rider’s WifeGEORGE ELLA LYON
“Salvation”
from With a Hammer for My HeartBELINDA ANN MASON
Gifts of the SpiritKATHY L. MAY
“Saved” & “Ascension”HEATHER ROSS MILLER
from The Edge of the WoodsLYNN POWELL
“Nativity”
“Echocardiogram” & “The Calling”BETTIE SELLERS
“Morning of the Red-Tailed Hawk”LEE SMITH
from Saving Grace
MAGGIE ANDERSON
“Ontological”KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Mountain Time”REBECCA HARDING DAVIS
from Life in the Iron MillsANN DEAGON
“Poetics South”NIKKI GIOVANNI
“A Poem Off Center”PAULETTA HANSEL
“Writing Lessons”
“Writing Lessons II”EDITH SUMMERS KELLEY
from WeedsLEATHA KENDRICK
from “No Place Like Home”GEORGE ELLA LYON
“A Growing Light”IRENE MCKINNEY
“The Only Portrait of Emily Dickinson”RITA QUILLEN
“Woman Writer”JANE STUART
“Composition”BENNIE LEE SINCLAIR
“Backwoods Haiku”ANNE SHELBY
“Why I Write”
“Fat Sestina”
“Spellcheck”BARBARA SMITH
“The Language of Poetry”
KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER
“Lineage”SIDNEY FARR
“Granny Brock”NIKKI GIOVANNI
“Griots”LISA KOGER
from “Extended Learning”HEATHER ROSS MILLER
from The Edge of the Woods
SYLVIA TRENT AUXIER
“Some Day in a Wood” & “The Stair”MARILOU AWIAKTA
“Women Die Like Trees”ARTIE ANN BATES
“Belinda, Our Tremendous Gift”JO CARSON
“I’m asking you to come back home...”
from DaytripsLISA COFFMAN
“In Envy of Migration”ANN DEAGON
“In A Time of Drought”WILMA DYKEMAN
Return the Innocent EarthPAULETTA HANSEL
“To her mother, lying in state”MILDRED HAUN
from “The Hawk’s Done Gone”LEE HOWARD
“The Last Unmined Vein”LILY MAY LEDFORD
from Coon Creek GirlLLEWELLYN MCKERNAN
“The Hollow”IRENE MCKINNEY
“Visiting My Gravesite...”JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE
“The Way Back”BARBARA PRESNELL
“When You Lose a Child”RITA QUILLEN
“How Do You Remember Him?”CYNTHIA RYLANT
from Missing MayBETTIE SELLERS
“All on a Summer’s Afternoon”MURIEL SHEPPARD
from Cabins in the LaurelVERNA MAE SLONE
from What My Heart Wants to TellJANE STUART
from Transparencies
“Where Stuarts Lie”
“Roots”
“Cycles”BARBARA SMITH
“Bad News”MARY ELIZABETH WITHERSPOON
from The Morning Cool
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5/7/04. Last update: 5/8/04
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