They is many a way to mark a baby while it is still yet in the womb. A fright to its mother will render it nervous and fretful after it is birthed. If a copperhead strikes, a fiery red snake will be stamped on the baby’s face or back. And a portentous event will violate a woman’s entrails, grab a youngun by the ankle and wrench a life out of joint.

Denise Giardina,

Storming Heaven (1987)

Passages like this one (which kicks off the book!) are why Denise Giardina is an award-winning author and an Appalachian treasure.

A soot-soaked upbringing in Bluefield, West Virginia left an indelible mark that bleeds through Giardinia’s writing as well as her political career. Her candidacy for West Virginia governor in 2000 led to the formation of the Mountain Party, which focuses on progressive environmental attitudes, especially towards coal mining.

And if that weren’t enough, Kim Edwards—author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (2006’s USA Today Book of the Year)—will be making a special guest appearance!

Giardina and Edwards will sit down with Katerina today, so be sure to tune in at 2pm on Radio Free Lexington 88.1 WRFL.
(Click here for a live stream on the web).

Previously on Accents Radio:

• 01/31/14: writer Mary Popham (download)
• 01/24/14: poet Colin Watkins (download)
• 01/17/14: poet John James (download)
• 01/03/14: writer Maureen McHugh (download)
• 12/20/13 (part 2): writer Cory Collins (download)