High Country Humanities

DeAndra Davis is an autistic, Jamaican-American author who was raised in the swampy heat of Florida. Her books follow characters as neurodivergent and messy as she is. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Florida International University and teaches at Appalachian State University.

DeAndra Davis is an autistic, Jamaican-American author who was raised in the swampy heat of Florida. Her books follow characters as neurodivergent and messy as she is. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Florida International University and teaches at Appalachian State University.

Places can be inspiring, and Western North Carolina boasts quite a few. Nestled in the mountains in Blowing Rock, Camp Catawba, a summer camp operating between 1945 and 1970, inspired its founder, Vera Lachmann, and her partner, Tui St. George Tucker, in a variety of ways. In this talk, Dr. Reeves Shulstad, a professor of musicology in the Hayes School of Music, will provide a brief history of Lachmann’s founding of the camp and its mission.

In remembrance of that we are hosting a community listening day for people to share their experiences of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath. There will be four recording stations set up in the museum with opportunities to share your stories. Segments of the interviews will be broadcasted on WFDD radio station in the two weeks following the event. The interview sessions will be followed by screenings of two documentaries about the storm. “We Begin Again at 9:30” by Beth Davison and “Inundation” by Tom Hansell. In partnership with the University Libraries Oral History Office.

Taylor Brown grew up on the Georgia coast. He has lived in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and the mountains of western North Carolina. He is the recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. His novels include “Fallen Land,” “The River of Kings,” “Gods of Howl Mountain,” “Pride of Eden” and “Wingwalkers.” He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Taylor Brown grew up on the Georgia coast. He has lived in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and the mountains of western North Carolina. He is the recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. His novels include “Fallen Land,” “The River of Kings,” “Gods of Howl Mountain,” “Pride of Eden” and “Wingwalkers.” He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

This inaugural concert will be performed by the Faculty Ensemble of the Hayes School of Music and is open to the public. The music was composed by Roger Tréfoussse who met Jack Boul in the 1960s when he was a music counselor at Camp Catawba in Blowing Rock. Subsequent performances of this music will be performed in Washington DC, New York, and Berlin Germany. 8 movements in the suite, inspired by 8 paintings of Jack Boul's and performed by 8 musicians.

Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling, World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning author of eight books, most recently “Beowulf: A New Translation” (FSG, 2020), which won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and “The Mere Wife” (FSG, 2018), a contemporary novel adaptation of Beowulf.

Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling, World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning author of eight books, most recently “Beowulf: A New Translation” (FSG, 2020), which won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and “The Mere Wife” (FSG, 2018), a contemporary novel adaptation of Beowulf.

Join App State’s Dr. Neva J. Specht for an in-depth look at Camp Catawba. This presentation will highlight founder Vera Lachmann’s vision for the camp, stories about their adventures, and the importance of the camp to the attendees as they became adults. Lachmann escaped Nazi Germany to immigrate to the United States. She was a trained classicist, taught kindergarten in Germany, and became an academic in the United States. In the summers, she turned an old chicken farm into a “groovy summer camp” for young boys.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is the author of eight collections of poetry, including three recipients of the NC Poetry Society’s Brockman-Campbell award. “The Fisher Queen: New and Selected Poems” (Salmon, 2019) received the NC Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize. She has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains for many years, where she teaches environmental literature, animal studies, Irish studies, and creative writing as Professor of English at App State.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is the author of eight collections of poetry, including three recipients of the NC Poetry Society’s Brockman-Campbell award. “The Fisher Queen: New and Selected Poems” (Salmon, 2019) received the NC Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize. She has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains for many years, where she teaches environmental literature, animal studies, Irish studies, and creative writing as Professor of English at App State.

Kira Rockwell is an Atlanta-based playwright and educator, originally from the heart of Texas. She is an Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing with the Mass Cultural Council, a recipient of the Judith Royer Excellence in Playwriting Award, second-place recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center, three-time finalist for the O’Neill NPC, runner-up for the Princess Grace Award, and more.

Tim Earley is the author of five collections of poems, including “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery” (Horse Less Press, 2014), winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and “Linthead Stomp” (Horse Less Press, 2016). He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and teaches online courses in creative writing, Appalachian literature, British literature, and fantasy literature for the University of Mississippi.

Tim Earley is the author of five collections of poems, including “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery” (Horse Less Press, 2014), winner of the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and “Linthead Stomp” (Horse Less Press, 2016). He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and teaches online courses in creative writing, Appalachian literature, British literature, and fantasy literature for the University of Mississippi.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is an African American writer, poet, artist, and educator who works at the intersection of computation, AI, race, and gender. They are the author of Travesty Generator (Noemi Press), which received the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Anna Rabinowitz prize for interdisciplinary work and was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry. They direct the MFA in creative writing program at the University of Maryland and are a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts poetry grant recipient and 2024 Ruby’s Grant recipient.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is an African American writer, poet, artist, and educator who works at the intersection of computation, AI, race, and gender. They are the author of Travesty Generator (Noemi Press), which received the Poetry Society of America’s 2020 Anna Rabinowitz prize for interdisciplinary work and was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry. They direct the MFA in creative writing program at the University of Maryland and are a 2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts poetry grant recipient and 2024 Ruby’s Grant recipient.

Gary Wheeler is an award-winning writer, producer, and director with over thirty years of experience in the film and television industry. He has made more than forty motion pictures, which have been seen by millions of viewers on platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, iTunes, PBS, and many more. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University.

Gary Wheeler is an award-winning writer, producer, and director with over thirty years of experience in the film and television industry. He has made more than forty motion pictures, which have been seen by millions of viewers on platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, iTunes, PBS, and many more. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University.