A superb and necessary collection. Imagine the suffering and suicide that might have been avoided had such a collection been available in the 1960s. I do imagine it. The movement from there to here enables me to keep faith.

--Fenton Johnson, author of At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life

A vital, provocative look at the gender expansiveness and the racialized experiences of BIPOC Appalachians in rural landscapes. This collection answers 'What is home? Who belongs here?' with a resounding song: all of us. Appalachia is not a monolith; this collection reminds us that even expats are not in exile, but can return home, can belong.

--Eileen Elizabeth Espinoza, cofounder of Boshemia

The ability to survive and thrive in unwelcoming circumstances is a focus of the writings collected in To Belong Here: A New Generation of Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Appalachian Writers edited by Rae Garringer. The term 'two-spirit' refers to a nonbinary gender category recognized among some Indigenous peoples in North America. Contributors discuss 'themes of erasure, environmentalism, violence, kinship, racism, Indigeneity, queer love, and trans liberation' in Appalachia, exploring 'the writers' resilience in reconciling their complex and often contradictory connections to home.'

-- "Inside Higher Ed"

Writer, oral historian and goat wrangler Rae Garringer has compiled this imperative volume of trans, queer, Two-Spirit writers and writers of color from Appalachia to challenge and expand our understanding of the region.

-- "Ms. Magazine"

Spotlighted in Ms. Magazine's "April 2025 Reads for the Rest of Us"

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Pub date: 2025-04-01

Length: 112 pages