For Ron Rash, the Southern Appalachians hold a sense of eternity. Here, the promise of the future and the beauty — and harshness — of the present are just a few thin layers in a much longer legacy. These mountains are where his parents are buried, and their parents before them, and their parents before them. They’re the place that made his life, the place he’s lived his life, and the place that has inspired the poems, short stories, and novels he’s spent his career creating.
“Eudora Welty said, ‘One place comprehended helps us understand all other places better,’ and that’s why when people call writers ‘regional’ I don’t see it as an insult,” Rash said. “Because a really good regional writer is also a universal writer. You’re ultimately getting to the core of what it means to be human.”
