Acclaimed author to headline ETSU literary festival

When the New York Times calls you "one of the great American authors at work today," people listen.East Tennessee State University is bringing one such author - Ron Rash - to Johnson City.The New York Times bestselling author and the three-time O. Henry Prize winner will headline the Bert C. Bach Written Word Initiative's Spring Literary Festival. It's part of East Tennessee State University's ongoing commitment to making world-class literary programming accessible to the region."Ron Rash has done what almost every great writer does. He's written stories and poems so rooted in a specific place that they become universal," said Dr. Jesse Graves, ETSU poet-in-residence. "Having him here is an extraordinary opportunity for our students and community to engage with someone who has shaped how America understands Appalachian literature."Rash's body of work spans 21 books, with his books published in 21 countries and translated into 17 languages. His 2009 novel "Serena" became a PEN/Faulkner finalist and bestseller. His newest book, "The Caretaker," published by Doubleday in 2023, was named one of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year.A son of Buncombe and Watauga county natives raised in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, Rash comes from a family that has lived in the southern Appalachian Mountains since the mid-1700s. That connection to place runs through everything he writes, including novels like "One Foot in Eden" and "Above the Waterfall."Rash will give a keynote address, reading from his work, in ETSU's Bud Frank Theatre at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22.A festival of regional and national voicesRash headlines a festival that brings together nationally recognized writers and ETSU faculty. Award-winning poets Nickole Brown and Rose McLarney join novelist Juan Martinez, whose debut "Extended Stay" earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was shortlisted for the Chicago Review of Books prize.ETSU faculty members Drs. Scott Honeycutt and Kevin O'Donnell will present from their forthcoming book "Woodlands of the Mind," published by the University of Georgia Press. Dr. Ted Olson, nine-time Grammy nominee as a music historian and professor of Appalachian Studies, will share from his latest poetry collection, "Blue Moon."The festival is free and open to the public, running April 21-22.