Mtn. Talk: Appalachian Women Poets – Part Two
April is National Poetry Month, and so, we’re bringing you two episodes chock full of poetry written and read by Appalachian women! This is Part Two, and in it, we’ll hear from Savannah Sipple, Ansel Elkins, and George Ella Lyon!
Ansel Elkins is the author of Blue Yodel, winner of the 2014 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize. Her poems have appeared in The American Scholar, The Believer, Oxford American, Parnassus, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, the American Antiquarian Society, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, as well as a “Discovery”/Boston Review Prize. She is is currently visiting Writer-in-Residence at the University of Kentucky.
George Ella Lyon has published award-winning books for readers of all ages, and her poem, “Where I’m From,” has been used as a model by teachers around the world. Recent titles include She Let Herself Go (poems) and the following picture books: “Which Side Are You On?” The Story of a Song, and All the Water in the World (both CCBC Choices), The Pirate of Kindergarten (Schneider Award) and You and Me and Home Sweet Home (Jane Addams Honor). Originally from the mountains of Kentucky, Lyon works as a freelance writer and teacher based in Lexington, where she lives with her husband, writer and musician Steve Lyon. They have two grown sons. Lyon was the Kentucky State Poet Laureate from 2015-2016.
Music on this episode features the Dutch Cove String Band with a tune called “The Greeneville Waltz.” That song comes off their album Sycamore Tea released by Appalshop’s own June Appal Recordings in 1978.
This episode was produced and hosted by Rachel Garringer. From all of us at WMMT thank you for listening and please follow CDC guidelines for preventing the spread of coronavirus in these scary times.
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