Something about those black bears
We love our bears here in the Smokies. It’s estimated there are around 15,000 in the four-state area surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and they’ve become an iconic symbol of the region.
So, it’s no wonder that of the hundreds of stories we published on The Smoky Mountain News website in 2025, it was one about relocating bears that was the most popular.
‘Into the Mist’ now available in e-book format
“Into the Mist: Tales of Death and Disaster, Mishaps and Misdeeds, Misfortune and Mayhem in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Volume I” is now available in e-book format on popular electronic reader platforms.
‘Islands in the Sky’ launch to highlight Helene survivors, amplify Appalachian voices
Next week, award-winning graphic novelist Andrew Aydin will return to Haywood County to help kick off an ambitious new creative endeavor — one that aims not only to elevate overlooked Appalachian voices but also to preserve the stories of Hurricane Helene’s survivors in a way that’s never been done before.
Inked: Hurricane Helene's legacy lives on, through comics
When Hurricane Helene tore through Southern Appalachia last year, it left behind more than just downed trees and flooded homes. Helene carved enduring, indelible stories into the lives of those who lived through it.
‘An Imaginative Proclivity’: Gary Carden and “Stories I Lived to Tell”
In “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024, 152 pages), 89-year-old storyteller and writer Gary Carden spends much of his time revisiting his youth and childhood.
Of parched corn and rank strangers: Ahead of new book, Gary Carden reflects on a lifetime of storytelling
So I walk into Gary Carden’s room in the ICU and the first thing he says to me in his sonorous growl is, “OK newspaperman, take this down. I want you to turn this into a story.”
Notes from a plant nerd: Playing with a full deck
Dear reader, yeah, I mean you. You who are reading this while holding the paper in your hands or scanning through on your computer, tablet or phone. Yeah, you. I am so deeply grateful to you for reading my articles. This marks the 52nd column that I have written for The Smoky Mountain News, with one running every couple of weeks for the last two years or so. That’s one for each week in the year. One for every card in a deck.
Wild nights and the bar fight
“There is no such joy in the tavern as upon the road thereto.”
— Cormac McCarthy, “Blood Meridian”
Freedom Park lifts up heroic stories
The state government complex in Raleigh is home to a new park. Constructed on Lane Street between the legislative building and the governor’s mansion, North Carolina Freedom Park was designed by the late Phil Freelon of the architecture firm Perkins + Will.
