By Kendra Winchester
Read Appalachia
In this month’s episode, we’re talking about books for Pride Month! Host Kendra Winchester is joined by special guests Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. and Zane McNeill.
Things Mentioned
- Stacy Jane Grover ft on Ep. 3
- Neema Avashia ft on Ep. 4
- Instagram Live Show with the Contributors to Y’all Means All
Books Mentioned
- Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Carver Jr.
- Y’all Means All: The Emerging Voices Queering Appalachia edited by Zane McNeill
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
- Pop by Robert Gipe
- That’s Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation (Revised, Expanded) by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
- Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
- Foucault in California: [A True Story–Wherein the Great French Philosopher Drops Acid in the Valley of Death] by Simeon Wade
- “Truck Sluts, Petrosexual Countrysides, and Trashy Environmentalisms” by Nicholas Tyler Reich
Guest Info
Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. is an advocate, Kentucky Teacher of the Year, and the author of a new collection of narrative poetry about his childhood growing up queer in Appalachia, Gay Poems for Red States (University Press of Kentucky). His work exists at the intersection of queer identity, Appalachian identity, and the politics of innocence.
Willie is a candidate for the MFA in poetry at the University of Kentucky. He publishes and presents on the subjects of education, marginalization, and identity, and his story has been featured on ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR, and in The Washington Post and Le Monde. His advocacy has led him to engage President Biden and to testify before the United States Congressional Committee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. His creative work has been published in 100 Days in Appalachia, 2RulesofWriting, Another Chicago Magazine, Largehearted Boy Blog, Smoky Blue Literary Magazine, and Good River Review.
Zane McNeill is a nonbinary activist-scholar from West Virginia and the editor of Y’all Means All: The Emerging Voices Queering Appalachia (2022). They were a Y’ALL representative for the Appalachian Studies Association from 2020-2022 and are an advisory board member for the University Press of Kentucky book series, Appalachian Futures: Black, Native & Queer Voices.
Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.
