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Guest Columnists

CURRENT Guest Columnists

Clean Rivers and Childhood Lessons

Mary Anne Hitt, former executive director of Appalachian Voices, The Ecology Center and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, is now deputy director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. She lives in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Homer Hickam

The #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Rocket Boys” (which inspired the film “October Sky”) is also author of “The Coalwood Way,” “Sky of Stone” and the Josh Thurlow novels. In 2008, the novel “Red Helmet” marks his return to writing about WV

Sam Venable

Sam Venable has been on staff at the Knoxville News-Sentinel since 1970, as outdoors editor until 1985 and as a humor columnist since then. He is the author of 10 books...

Dan Matthews

A retired Episcopal priest and native of Canton, N.C., Dan Matthews owns The Swag, a western North Carolina country inn, with his wife Deener. His first parishes were in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau; his last post was Trinity Church Wall Street...

Adriana Trigiani

Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani grew up in the mountains of southwest Virginia. The bestselling author of the Big Stone Gap series, she has written and will direct a 2008 film based on those books. She has also written extensively for TV and film

Current Issue

Mary Anne Hitt, former executive director of Appalachian Voices, The Ecology Center and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, is now deputy director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign.

Clean Rivers and Childhood Lessons

Mary Anne Hitt, former executive director of Appalachian Voices, The Ecology Center and the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, is now deputy director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. She lives in Shepherdstown, W.Va.
The #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Rocket Boys” (which inspired the film “October Sky”) is also author of “The Coalwood Way,” “Sky of Stone” and the Josh Thurlow novels. In 2008, the novel “Red Helmet” marks his return to writing about West Virginia, this time telling a romantic story set in the coalfields of today.

Homer Hickam

The #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Rocket Boys” (which inspired the film “October Sky”) is also author of “The Coalwood Way,” “Sky of Stone” and the Josh Thurlow novels. In 2008, the novel “Red Helmet” marks his return to writing about WV
Sam Venable has been on staff at the Knoxville News-Sentinel since 1970, as outdoors editor until 1985 and as a humor columnist since then. He is the author of 10 books, including “Mountain Hands: A Portrait of Southern Appalachia” and “Someday I May Find Honest Work.”

Sam Venable

Sam Venable has been on staff at the Knoxville News-Sentinel since 1970, as outdoors editor until 1985 and as a humor columnist since then. He is the author of 10 books...
A retired Episcopal priest and native of Canton, N.C., Dan Matthews owns The Swag, a western North Carolina country inn, with his wife Deener.

Dan Matthews

A retired Episcopal priest and native of Canton, N.C., Dan Matthews owns The Swag, a western North Carolina country inn, with his wife Deener. His first parishes were in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau; his last post was Trinity Church Wall Street...
Adriana Trigiani

Adriana Trigiani

Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani grew up in the mountains of southwest Virginia. The bestselling author of the Big Stone Gap series, she has written and will direct a 2008 film based on those books. She has also written extensively for TV and film
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Departments

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

June 29, 2026
©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

June 29, 2026
Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

June 29, 2026

CALENDAR OF EVENTS