In the Lonely Backwater

Valerie Nieman's fifth novel, In the Lonely Backwater, draws on all the people she's been-a wandering child, uncertain teen, farmer, newspaper reporter, teacher, sailor. To the Bones, a genre-bending novel about the coal industry and its effects on Appalachia, was published by West Virginia University Press in 2019 and was a finalist for the Manly Wade Wellman Award. Like her earlier novels, Blood Clay, Survivors, and Neena Gathering, the stories are set in North Carolina, and West Virginia. She has also published short fiction and nonfiction. Her third poetry collection, Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse, debuted at Coney Island Museum and was runner-up for the Brockman-Campbell Prize. Her poetry has appeared widely, from Poetry to Crannog to the Georgia Review, and has been published in numerous anthologies, including Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. She has held state and NEA creative writing fellowships. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte and a former journalist, she is professor emeritus of creative writing at North Carolina A&T State University.

Samantha Desz is a classically trained narrator, voice artist, and actor who has extensive theater and long-form voiceover-project experience. Passionate about learning about different cultures and lifestyles, she has lived in many places across the United States as well as in London and currently calls the Midwest home.