A MESSAGE FROM OUR EDITOR
“During this period of social and political unrest, finding myself living in a divided nation, across an emotional border from many loved ones, I am certain I am not alone in seeking healing through writing.”
— excerpted from the editor’s section introduction,
”A Time to Heal”
A Time to Heal
section introduction by Margaret D. Bauer, Editor
On Beauty, The Reluctant Beauty Queen
an essay by Glenis Redmond
Promised Land
a poem by Maura High
art by Damian Stamer
At Home in North Carolina: An Interview with Belle Boggs
by Barbara Bennett
The Courage to Face Your Truth
a review by Loren Ashten
Rachael Brooks, Beads
leftover women
a poem by Lisa M. Pursley
art by Catharine Carter
Next to Godliness (hear excerpt)
a short story by Rose Himber Howse
art by Patricia Steele Raible
Love and Death in North Carolina Poetry
a review by Catherine Carter
Jessica Jacobs, Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going
Wayne Johns, Antipsalm
Eric Tran, The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer
Always Timely, No Matter the Time
a review by Ashley Daughtridge
Kati Gardner, Brave Enough
David Brendan Hopes, The Falls of Wyona
Weeding
a poem by J.S. Absher
art by Vandorn Hinnant
At the End of the Causeway
an essay by Hannah Towey
art by Mary Edna Fraser
Solastalgia
a poem by Christopher Shipman
art by Kenn Kotara
Directing Our Attention to the Finite Things of This World
a review by Amber Flora Thomas
Catherine Carter, Larvae of the Nearest Stars
The Battle of Relationships through Different Eyes
a review by Jim Clark
Daynne Romine Powell, In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver
Sandra Ann Winters, Do Not Touch
Measured
an essay by Susan Wilson
Hypnopompic hallucination of you and your ex in a horse pasture five miles outside of Greensboro
a poem by Shari Crane Fox
art by Malu Tan
Love and Marriage
a review by Brandy Reeves
Judy Goldman, Together
Keeper
a poem by Richard Betz
art by Christopher Lambert
Bardo
a poem by Janis Harrington
art by Rebecca Aloisio
Time to Start Over
a review by Max Kilgore
Dale Neal, Appalachian Book of the Dead
Grace
a poem by Janet Ford
art by Juan Logan
Tallying the Cost of Addiction in Appalachia
a review by Dale Neal
David Joy, When These Mountains Burn
Meagan Lucas, Songbirds & Stray Dogs
Wherever You Go (hear excerpt)
a short story by Nancy H. Williard
art by Robert Boyd
The Battle Inside
a review by Meagan Lucas
Katey Schultz, Still Come Home
The Great Dimming of the Year 2020
an essay by Carol Scott-Conner
art by Tim Christensen
Flashbacks: Echoes of Past Issues
A MESSAGE FROM OUR EDITOR
”I will take this space to ask for your help putting copies of the print issue into libraries across the state.
Our primary mission is to promote and preserve North Carolina’s rich literary culture. Let’s get NCLR into libraries and the hands of readers across the country and beyond. “
-excerpted from section introduction, “Sharing North Carolina’s Rich History”
Sharing North Carolina’s Rich Literary History
section introduction by Margaret D. Bauer, Editor
Ammons Among North Carolina Friends
a review by Eric C. Walker
Emily Herring Wilson, “When I Go Back to My Home Country”:
Remembrance of Archie Ammons
2021 Ehle Prize Awarded to Essay on Ehle
Finding Ehle’s Mountain Novels
by Savannah Paige Murray
Something (More) Rich and Strange
a review by Jimmy Dean Smith
Ron Rash, In the Valley
Frédérique Spill, The Radiance of Small Things in Ron Rash’s Writings
A Little Bit of Suffering in Common
a review by Jim Coby
John Hart, The Unwilling
Charles Dodd White, How Fire Runs
Short Story Sequencing
a review by Sharon E. Colley
Leah Hampton, F*ckface and Other Stories
Rhonda Browning White, The Lightness of Water & Other Stories
2019-2020 Manly Wade Wellman Award Winner
A Map to Everlasting and Liberating Truth
a review by Philip Gerard
Wayne Moore, Triumphant Warrior
Angelic Voices Sing in North Carolina
a review by Reginald Watson
Randall Kenan, If I Had Two Wings
Lenard D. Moore, Editor, All the Songs We Sing
Remembering Randall
by Margaret D. Bauer
Michael Parker Awarded 2020 Thomas Wolfe Prize
Jill McCorkle and Lee Smith Mine the Past, and Both Find Gold
a review by Barbara Bennett
Jill McCorkle, Hieroglyphics
Lee Smith, Blue Marlin
The Heart of the Story
a review by Tanya Long Bennett
Monique Truong, The Sweetest Fruits
In Search of “Wonders Hidden and Huge”
a review by James W. Kirkland
Peg Bresnahan, Hunger to Share
Homage to Hawthorne: A (New) Wonder Book
a review by Lorraine Hale Robinson
Marly Youmans, Charis in the World of Wonders
Love, Power, and Beauty in an Aspirational Rome
a review by Mayee Zhu
David Brendan Hopes, Night, Sleep, and the Dreams of Lovers
Discovering Who We Are
a review by Angela Love Moser
Sarah Dessen, The Rest of the Story
Make Your Own Kind of Happily Ever After
a review by Savanah Paige Murray
Sophie Gonzalez, Only Mostly Devastated
Mary Cecilia Jackson, Sparrow
Debut Novel by Meg Cannistra Wins NC AAUW Award
Secure Invitations
a review by Robert M. West
Keith Flynn, The Skin of Meaning
Al Maginnes, Sleeping Through the Graveyard Shift
2020 Caldwell Award Winner James W. Clark, Jr., North Carolina’s “Johnny Appleseed of the Humanities”
North Carolina Miscellany
A MESSAGE FROM OUR EDITOR
“As always, we thank our reviewers, who provide the great service to NCLR. Over fifty books reviewed this issue!”
—excerpted from the editor’s section introduction, “Welcoming New Writers and Making New Plans”
Welcoming New Writers and Making New Plans
section introduction by Margaret D. Bauer, Editor
Yearning Over Yonder
a review by Susannah Hedley
Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing
art by Marjorie Pierson
Themes That Persist: Coming of Age Tales of Race, Family, and Identity
a review by Amanda Shingleton Robles
Sion Dayson, As A River
Molly Dektar, The Ash Family
Resilience and Connection
a review by Kristina L. Knotts
Rebecca Hodge, Wildland
If This Be Life
a review by Rebecca Duncan
Judy Dearlove, Play On!
Building a Better Birdhouse: Clifford Garstang’s Troubled Men
a review by Dale Bailey
Clifford Garstang, House of the Ancients and Other Stories and The Shaman of Turtle Valley
2020 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award Honors Eastern Cherokee Stories
Caught in the Teeth of Love
a review by Jim Coby
Nathan Ballingrud, Wounds: Six Stories from the Borders of Hell
When We Talk About Love, There’s Pain
a review by Helen Stead
Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, A Small Thing to Want
Ray Morrison, I Hear the Human Noise
Triad Stage of Greensboro Receives Hardee Rives Award
Yesterday and Today
a review by Emily Herring Wilson
June Sylvester Saraceno, Feral, North Carolina, 1965 and The Girl From Yesterday
To Speak in Your Own Voice
a review by Janice N. Harrington
Dorianne Laux, As the Day Is Long
Annie Woodford, Bootleg
Lessons in Persistence
a review by Anna McFadyen
Kay Bosgraaf, The Fence Lesson
Patricia Hooper, Wild Persistence
Voice and The Reliable Narrator
a review by Patrick Bizzaro
Malaika King Albrecht, The Stumble Field
Michael Gaspeny, The Tyranny of Questions
NOMINATIONS FROM THIS ISSUE:
Poetry
J.S. Absher
Janet Ford
Shari Crane Fox
Janis Harrington
Maura High
Christopher Shipman
Creative Nonfiction
Glenis Redmond
Carol Scott-Conner
Fiction
Rose Himber Howse
Nancy H. Williard
Art
Cynthia Bickley-Green
Mary Edna Fraser
Damian Stamer
Pushcart
Rose Himber Howse
Nancy H. Williard
Orison Anthology
Carol Scott-Conner
John Burroughs Nature Essay Award
Carol Scott-Conner
Hannah Towey
2020-21 STUDENT STAFF
Editorial Assistants
Drake Heath
Bethany Holmes
Max Kilgore
Nija Knight
Mary Myers
Interns
Elizabeth Currin
Lily Johnson
Vedika Modi