Overview

""The flood came at night, forcefully and quickly, destroying so many lives in its wake. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will happen again and again."" — Carter Sickels In late July 2022, a catastrophic flash flood claimed the lives of more than forty people and devastated homes and communities in Central Appalachia. The forty-fifth annual Appalachian Writers' Workshop at Hindman Settlement School in eastern Kentucky was in progress when surging floodwater forced the participants and staff to rush to higher ground. The school lost classrooms, housing, and gathering areas, as well as valuable equipment, and irreplaceable artifacts such as historical books and documents, photographs, and handmade musical instruments from the school archives were damaged. As the floodwaters receded throughout the region, countless lives were forever changed.   In this visceral and powerful anthology, well-known and emerging Appalachian writers create an authentic space for processing and healing as they document and share the depth of the flood's devastation. Through words and images, Troublesome Rising reveals the writers' fears, desperation, sadness, and anger while detailing and examining the disaster's causes, the need for solutions, and how flooding has historically impacted the Appalachian community and culture. In a shared, varied, and resounding voice, this compelling collection not only serves as a historical document and an in-depth investigation of the event, but also as a celebration of Appalachian strength, determination, and resilience.

Full Product Details

Author:   Melissa Helton
Publisher:   The University Press of Kentucky
Imprint:   The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN:  

9781950564439

ISBN 10:   1950564436
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   02 September 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Introduction   Prologue   The Map Keeps Changing   Water's Dark Body   These Sunken, Unpeopled Streets   There's Nothing Untouched   Frontmatter   Hanktum   After This, the Deluge   they freaks of nature   Blue Hole   Invisible, Essential   It's Raining This Week   Flood Walking   Forty Years and a Flood   Fight from Away   The Shape Water Takes   from Making it Home   Planting Trees in God's Country   Collective Healing   This Too is Creation   Rise and Fall   Coal+iron+natural gas   How to Sleep   Troublesome Rising   From the Tennessee Side of the Mountains   Fire and Rain   Before   Flood Watching Instructions   Belonging   Strangers —   Wall of Water   One of the Sounds of Water   From Furman   Turtletalk   What Water Can't Erase   Knowing   Stag   Aerial View of Catastrophic Flooding in Eastern Kentucky   Aquarius   Chain of Custody   With What Remains   Backwash   Floods Make Fertile Ground   The Gift Horse   elegy for an eastern kentucky grocery   Dark Waters   Headlines and History   The Flooded Town   Absence and Elements, a Prayer   No Friends of Coal   Brothers 12 & 14   Elvis   Where Was the Music   River Rising   Five-Hundred-Year Rains   Learning from Home   Ain't No Grave   Reliquiae Diluviana   The Only Prayer   Don't Tell Me   Surge   The Morning After   Around the Table   Mr. Still's Hat   What We Saved   Aching for Troublesome   Bluegrass Navy   Mud   Pulled from the Flood   From the Road   Salvage   To Ask   It Is Still Here, the Magic   After   After the Flood, After the Tornado, and Before the Next   Epilogue   Appendix   Contributors   Notes and Permissions   A Final Note

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Author Information

Melissa Helton, literary arts director at Hindman Settlement School, has belonged to the Hindman writing community since 2015. Her work has been published in Shenandoah, Still: The Journal, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Appalachian Review, the Norwegian Writers' Climate Campaign, and more. Her chapbooks include Inertia: A Study and Hewn. She was previously a tenured associate professor of English at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College.

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