BOONE, N.C. — The fall 2026 edition of As the Crow Flies, the open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, was released on September 15, 2026. This fall edition of As the Crow Flies features peer-reviewed scholarship, poetry, artwork, interviews, and creative nonfiction, as well as reviews of work in conversation about the Appalachian region.
This edition features poetry from Matt Goldberg, Michael Dowdy, Phillip Howerton, David Radavich, Steve Cushman, Angie Kinman, and A. Tassy.
Patricia Bradley’s creative nonfiction essay delves into themes of memory and home, while Leon Lewis contributes a piece on regional golf and the role it plays in community and identity.
The “Food for Thought” section includes “Beyond Orange Streams, Black Rivers: Appalachian and Bayelsa in Conversation” by Ijeoma (IJ) Idika-Chima, which offers an insightful comparison between pollution in Southern Ohio and the Niger Delta.
Craig Fischer’s interview, “Somebody from Somewhere: An Interview with Willard Watson III about Ramblin’ Hobo,” provides a fascinating look into the story behind Watson’s comic and insights into his life as the artist.
Continuing the focus on art, Gretchen Ernster Henderson’s “Windows On An Exhibition: Replenishing Relations with Dear Body of Water in the New River Watershed” presents an immersive experience that allows audiences to experience Dear Body of Water as it was exhibited at Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts.
This issue’s peer-reviewed scholarship highlights Sara West’s article, “They’ll Fit Right In: A Case Study of Constructing In-Group Status from Appalachian Stereotypes.” West examines the rhetorical strategies used by Rod of Iron Ministries to “fit in” Appalachian communities.
In this issue, Thomas Alan Holmes reviews Uprooted: A Memoir by S. B. Long, while Lora Eli Smith reviews Beth Howard’s Song for a Hard-Hit People: A Memoir of Antiracist Solidarity from a Coal Miner’s Daughter. Additionally, Zachary Vernon reviews E. Davis Enloe’s Into the Night Woods, and Terry Roberts reviews If Only the Rain Would Come by Natalie Sypolt. Morgan DePue reviews Abby Minor’s Infinity Ballot, and Twinless Twin by Dean Marshall Tuck is reviewed by A. Harold Hart.
This issue is free to access, read, and share at as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org.
Related: Summer 2026 edition of As the Crow Flies now available
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About As The Crow Flies
As the Crow Flies is the new open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review. Appalachian Journal, founded in 1972, is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed quarterly featuring field research, roundtable discussions, interviews, first-person essays, and scholarly studies of history, politics, economics, culture, folklore, literature, music, ecology, and a variety of other topics, as well as poetry, photography, and reviews of books, films, and recordings dealing with the region of the Appalachian mountains. The material in As the Crow Flies undergoes the same editorial and peer review processes as the print content, but is more freely available to readers and researchers. Learn more about As the Crow Flies
About the Center for Appalachian Studies
The Center for Appalachian Studies promotes public programs, community collaboration, civic engagement, and scholarship on the Appalachian region. The center is committed to building healthy communities and deepening knowledge of Appalachia’s past, present, and future through community-based research and engagement. Learn more about the Center for Appalachian Studies
Written by Jessica Cory, PhD
September 15, 2026
BOONE, N.C.
The "As the Crow Flies" logo overlaid on an image of the Blue Ridge Mountains
As the Crow Flies, an open-access expansion of Appalachian Journal