The Highland Summer Writing Conference (HSC), held each summer along the banks of the ancient New River at Radford University's Selu Conservancy, brings together and inspires writers as they participate in the communal art of creating and sharing. Over the years, many prestigious Appalachian authors have taught workshops to like-minded students, many of whom became published authors in their own right. This book, a celebration of the HSC, is a collection of reflective essays, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction contributed by 41 authors and student-authors who have taken part in the conference over a span of 43 years.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments viii Preface Grace Toney Edwards Introduction Donia S. Eley Part I: Inspiration Grace Toney Edwards  In Memoriam: They Came, Left Gifts, and Now Are Gone 8 Parks Lanier, Jr.  Highland Summer Conference: The Beginning 19 Jeff Daniel Marion  The Chinese Poet Reconsiders Time 25 • “Late Autumn the Chinese Poet Invites His Old Friend the Brier Out to the River to Sit a Spell” 29 Loyal Jones  Words from a Legend of Appalachia 30 • “Tintagel” 31 Marilou Awiakta  Our Courage Is Our Memory 32 • “Dawn Birth” 33 • “Out of Ashes Peace Will Rise” 36 • “Parting Thoughts” 38 • “I Offer You a Gift” 43 David Huddle  How and Why Radford University’s Highland Summer Conference Was More Than Just a Teaching Gig for Me 44 • “Where Do You Come From?” 47 • “What Can You Tell Me About Your Father?” 48 • “What About Your Mother?” 48 • “Art for Money” 49 • “What Are You Up To?” 49 • “Elrica” 50 • “Some Kitchens” 50 • “Inez” 51 George Ella Lyon  Reflections: Community, Generosity and Magic 53 • “All to Pieces” 55 Bill Brown  Gift … Beyond Measure 56 • “The Talk in Floyd County” 57 • “Passenger” 59 • “Learning to Be Quiet” 60 • “Otter Dream for Geron” 61 Rita Sims Quillen  Writing in the Highlands of Virginia 63 • “A Woman Born to Farming” (After Wendell Berry’s “A Man Born to Farming”) 64 Robert Morgan  Experience at Radford: Connecting with the Indigenous Roots 66 • Lost Lead Mine of the Cherokees 68 Diane Gilliam  How I Got to RU, and What I Found There 77 • “Said the Girl to the Boy” 79 Part II: More Inspiration Ron Rash  Words from Ron Rash 82 • Reflection on Highland Summer Conference 82 • “Canning” 83 Ricky Cox  My First Highland Summer Conference 84 • Where Are You Now, Marlos Perkos? 85 Ruth B. Derrick  Fun, Terror and Gratification 91 • “The Sweater” 94 • “Taken” 95 • “Body Language—1918 Family Portrait” 95 • “Life Cycle” Four Poems in One 96 George Brosi  Appalachian Mountain Books and HSC 97 Pamela Duncan  In the Blue Ridge of Virginia 101 • Real Life 102 Grace Toney Edwards  Yesterday’s Voices, Today’s Visions: The Power of a Teacher’s Influence 105 Robert Gipe  Words from Robert Gipe 110 • The Hide-Behinds 110 Richard Hague  Jesus of the Hills 114 • My Week 118 Heidi Hartwiger  There Is No Such Thing as Too Much Garlic 119 • An Incredible WOW Factor Woman 123 Jeff Mann  HSC Memory 129 • “Country Kitchen—Christiansburg, Virginia” 131 • “Gay Redneck, With Baby Stroller” 132 • “Redneck Food” 133 Karen Salyer McElmurray  Conferencing 134 Linda Parsons  A Grateful Confluence 139 • “Divine Rods” 140 Dana Wildsmith  Teaching the Teachers 142 • “One Light” 144 • “Emergency Room” 145 • “Pitched Past Grief” 145 • “Elegy” 145 Frank X Walker  Contributions from Frank X Walker, a Kentucky Poet Laureate 147 • “Sweat Equity” 147 • “Ritual” 148 “Rock Paper Scissors” 149 • “Hoofers” 149 • “Wheeze” 150 • “Eclipse” 151 Rick Van Noy  Reading the River 152 Donald Secreast  The Highland Summer Conference Could Have Added Ten Years to My Writing Life 156 Part III: The Inspired B. Chelsea Adams  The Truth We Share 164 • “The Part Gone” 166 • “The Nineteenth Hole” 167 Charles A. Swanson  You Made Me One of Your Own 169 • “Fraulein” 173 • “Old Work Shirt: Let Me Praise the Pansies” 173 • “Old Work Shirt, the Hand-Stitched Swans Most Gone” 174 • “Forward: Row-ing for O-hi-O” 174 • “Homeplace” 175 Donia S. Eley  From Long Dusty Roads and Tobacco Rows to a Selfie with Gurney 178 • “I Am From” 179 • “The Captain” 180 • “Sputnik” 181 • “Evening Light” 182 Kevin Stewart  From a Montana Vantage Point 183 • Silenced 184 Becky Dellinger Hancock  APPALKIDS at HSC 192 Rick Mulkey  Homecoming 195 • “Concerning Whisky” 197 • “Cured" 198 • “An Explanation” 199 Matt Prater  Looking Back 201 • “Trieste” 202 Sam L. Linkous  Remembering Jim Wayne Miller—and More 204 • “Catching Supper” 205 • “Sacred Ground” 205 • Reflections 206 Elizabeth McCommon  You Asked, and I Came 216 • Up On Locust Hill 217 Teresa Stutso Jewell  From Hairdresser to Writer 219 • “The Plea of Brother Mountain” 222 Luther Kirk  Impacts 223 • Opal Jean 224 • “Ain’t Never Went to the Ocean” 232 • “Witching Hour” 232 • “She Left” 233 • “Child of Appalachia” 233 • “My Soul” 233 • “Went to the Ocean” 234 Tim Thornton  For Those Two Weeks in That One Summer … I Was a Writer 235 • “Mom and Dad, 1958” 237 Bonnie Roberts Erickson  A Journey into the Heart 238 Jim Minick  Writing Community: Celebrating the Highland Summer Conference’s 40th Anniversary and More 242 • “When You Realize the Future” 244 Afterword Theresa L. Burriss Appendix: List of HSC Leaders, Readers and Performers About the Contributors Index