Loose Leaf Notes

 I’ll be reading with others at the local library with other Moonshine contributors on Thursday. Below is the editor’s press release. Above is a photo I took that was chosen for the latest cover.

Author Casey Clabough and other local literary talents of Floyd and the New River Valley will gather at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 29th at the Jessie Peterman Memorial Library in Floyd for a reading of their recently published stories, poems, and essays in Floyd County Moonshine, a local literary magazine published by chief editor Aaron Lee Moore.

A bi-annual publication, Floyd County Moonshine has been in production just over six years, publishing a variety of home-grown Appalachian writers in addition to writers from across the country. Floyd County Moonshine has now published 16 issues and over 150 authors and artists. Floyd County Moonshine is proud to present Casey Clabough as the Spring 2014 Floyd County Moonshine Featured Author. Casey Clabough is the author of the novel Confederado, the travel memoir The Warrior’s Path: Reflections Along an Ancient Route, and five scholarly books on southern and Appalachian writers, including Inhabiting Contemporary Southern & Appalachian Literature: Region & Place in the 21st Century.

Local writers will include Chelsea Adams, McCabe Coolidge, Rob Neukirch, Colleen Redman, and Michele Rice. Chelsea Adams, an accomplished poet and graduate from Hollins’ creative writing program, writes highly accessible, innovative poetry that focuses on themes of nature in succinct, vibrant language, says Moore. Her husband, Bill Adams, a guitarist, plays jazz to accompany her as she reads. Among other endeavors, McCabe Coolidge is also a frequent contributor to Floyd County Moonshine. A potter and prominent philanthropist, he also owns and operates Plenty!, a volunteer organization that distributes organic produce. Several of his non-fiction essays set in Floyd County have been published in Moonshine. Rob Neukirch, both a talented writer and actor, is a frequent contributor to Moonshine. His fiction, often focusing on themes of domesticity and angst in small town settings, has made frequent appearances in Moonshine over the years. He received a second place in the Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest and was a finalist in Glimmer Train Press’ contest. Colleen Redman, who also writes for The Floyd Press, has had several poems and photos published in Moonshine. Her picturesque photo of an abandoned house just off of Woods Gap Road was selected from dozens of others to be featured as the cover image for the Spring 2014 issue. Michele Rice is also both a photographer and writer whose work appears in this latest issue of Moonshine. She is working on a third novel in a series before looking for an agent.

Copies of Moonshine and other books by featured readers may be purchased afterwards. You may submit, sponsor, subscribe, advertise, and order copies of Floyd County Moonshine through the website at www.floydcountymoonshine.org.