The Talking Appalachian Podcast
Talking Appalachian is a podcast about the Appalachian Mountain region's language or "voiceplaces," cultures, and communities. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Amy Clark, a Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. The podcast is based on her 2013 co-edited book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. Her writing on Appalachia has appeared in the New York Times, Oxford American Magazine, Salon.com, on NPR, and Harvard University Press blog. She is also founder and director of the Appalachian Writing Project, which serves teachers, students, and the communities of the central Appalachian region.
- Update frequency
- every 12 days
- Average duration
- 25 minutes
- Episodes
- 63
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
Talking Cherokee, Resilience and Devotion
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A Cherokee language revival is underway, thanks to the efforts of the Cherokee Nation and their communities in Oklahoma and western North Carolina. The story of Che…
The Burial Ground in the Woods Part II
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How do ghosts speak through their artifacts? As we continue the story of the burial ground in the woods, I'm joined by Dr. Angela Washington, my co-researcher and f…
The Burial Ground in the Woods
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What secrets does a 19th century burial ground hold, when the stones have no words or dates, and family folklore says they belonged to enslaved people? In this epi…
Talking Appalachian in Ireland
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Join us in beautiful Ireland where we learn about a town with two names (Londonderry/Derry), an Irishman's take on "hillbilly," familiar words and pronunciations, a…
The Woodcarver
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The sisters remembered her "witchy" looking dolls, but they were forever haunted by that one day when the woodcarver's knife nearly took their mother's life.
In this…
What Two Letters a Century Apart Tell Us About the Writers' Home Voices
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Listen to the voice of John Gregory, a Civil War infantryman writing home from a cold, February campsite in 1862, a year before he would die at Gettysburg. Then, li…
Three Reasons Why You Can be Proud of Your Dialect (Plus a Discussion of 'Sworp' and 'Watch for Deer')
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If you've ever found yourself in the position of having to defend your accent or dialect, or if you're an educator who wants to support your students' home voices b…
A Conversation with Pulitzer Winning Southern Writer Rick Bragg (Part II)
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In Part II of my conversation with one of my favorite writers, Pulitzer-winning southern writer and journalist Rick Bragg, he talks about some of the news stories t…
A Conversation with Pulitzer Winning Southern Writer Rick Bragg (Part I)
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Author Rick Bragg is a true storyteller. Though his work as a Pulitzer-winning journalist at the New York Times took him all over the world, the Alabama native came…
New Year's Eve Superstitions and Foods, Old Christmas, and the Word "Untelling"
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It's "untelling" what 2024 will bring, but in this episode we'll talk about why you should eat black- eyed peas on New Year's Eve, why you shouldn't do housework on…
Fixin' to, the A-Prefix and Twelve Days of Christmas, and an Excerpt from Verna Mae Slone's "How We Talked"
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In this episode, I research the history of "Fixin' to" (as in "I'm fixin' to put up the holiday decorations.) Add the very old (middle English) dialect feature "a-p…
Napoleon Hill Part II with Don Green on The Four Uses of Money and Millionaire Mindset
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Part II begins with a story about how Napoleon Hill's influence reached all the way to the Kennedy White House. Then, Executive Director of the Napoleon Hill Founda…
Napoleon Hill: from Appalachian Roots to Riches with Executive Director Don Green Part I
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Long before Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, became a global bestselling author, he was a poor boy from Pound, VA in the mountains of Wise County, runn…
Why Some Speakers Add an Extra 'T', Killed (or Kilt) Lettuce, and Storyteller Ray Hicks
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It's a 't' where no 't' ought to be....we call it "the intrusive -t" as in once't, across't, and kil't. In this episode:
- I talk about the Appalachian delicacy of "k…
The Haunting of Bertha Sybert
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The Legend of Bouncing Bertha was a story I heard straight from an eyewitness several years before he passed away, but I'd heard about little Bertha my whole life a…
Ron Rash, Bestselling Author, Talks about The Caretaker and the Stories, Voices, and Places that Inspire His Writing
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Bestselling author and western North Carolinian Ron Rash joins me to talk about his latest novel, The Caretaker. We also get into some of his other works, the impor…
Crystal Wilkinson on Voice as a Revolutionary Act and Writing to the Bone
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Crystal Wilkinson, author of the forthcoming Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts (PenguinRandomhouse) was Kentucky's Poet Laureate from 2021 to 2023. She is the award…
The Art of Making Molasses (or 'Lasses or 'Molassey')
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Appalachians call the process of making molasses a 'stir-off.' The word 'molasses' becomes 'lasses' or 'molassey' in the local dialect, a vernacular blend resulting…
Kentucky author Silas House Part II
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In part II and a separate interview, Silas and I discuss the pride and prejudice associated with Appalachian dialects, and he reads from his essay "In My Own Countr…
Kentucky Author Silas House Part I
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In part I of this two-part interview series from August 2023, Silas House joins me on the campus of UVa.'s College at Wise to talk about accent, making art about th…