HALEY DEVORE

Born and raised in Southeast Ohio, Haley DeVore has been creating stories since she was little at a desk in her childhood bedroom with her glittery gel pens. Her published works include three short stories, “Meet Me in the Fluorescent Glow,” “The Book Cellar,” and “A Stranger I Know Everything About” and a handful of poetry in anthologies, literary magazines and online as well as her first full length novel Untethered. She is currently working on a few other novel ideas that she hopes to flesh out and publish in the near future, including the next installment of the Untethered series.

RICH-JOSEPH FACUN

Rich-Joseph Facun is an Otomí and Pinoy storyteller, photographer, author, and publisher based in the Appalachian foothills of Southeast Ohio. His work explores the intersections of geography, labor, and cultural memory within post-industrial landscapes. He is the author of three photobooks, including Black Diamonds (2021), Little Cities (2022), and 1804 (2026). His practice centers underrepresented histories and evolving Appalachian identities.

LISHEA GOFF

Lishea Goff is an Appalachian writer, artist, and educator from West Virginia. She currently works as an elementary school administrator after several years teaching English. Her work explores family, memory, place, and the complicated ways they shape us. She writes and creates to preserve the stories that might otherwise go untold.

JOE GRAVES

Joe Graves is a pastor, writer, and the President of the Ohio Writers’ Association. He is the author of fiction and nonfiction exploring faith, power, and community renewal, including the speculative novel My Family at the End of Everything and the leadership handbook The Progressive Planter. Graves previously served a church in Athens County and continues to work with many authors and storytellers throughout Appalachian Ohio through his work with the Ohio Writers’ Association.

IAN HALL

Ian Hall was born and reared in the coalfields of Southeastern Kentucky. His debut collection, Creekwater Mansions, was released by EastOver Press in April 2026. He holds an MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a PhD in English from Florida State University. He appeared on Narrative Magazine’s ‘30 Below 30’ list, and he was named the winner of the 2025 Princemere Poetry Prize, as well as the co-winner of the Kentucky State Poetry Society’s 2025 Grand Prix Contest, and the runner-up of the 2025 Vivian Shipley Poetry Award. He was named a finalist for the 2024 X.J. Kennedy Prize, the 2024 Tennessee Williams Poetry Prize, and the 2025 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize. His work is featured in numerous publications, including Narrative, The Yale Review, Mississippi Review, The Journal, and American Literary Review. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

https://eastoverpress.com/book/creekwater-mansions/

SHARON HATFIELD

Sharon Hatfield is a nonfiction writer and longtime resident of Athens, Ohio. Sharon had the pleasure of co-editing the 2005 anthology An American Vein: Critical Readings in Appalachian Literature. She wrote Never Seen the Moon: The Trials of Edith Maxwell, which won the Weatherford Award for nonfiction and the Chaffin Award. Sharon has twice received Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council. Her latest nonfiction work, Enchanted Ground, was released in paperback in 2022.

SAM MILLER

Sam Miller is a sixth-generation Appalachian and the owner of The Novel Notion, a mobile bookstore and literary community brand rooted in Appalachian Ohio. She is also the founder of The Book Babes, a growing book club community based in Athens, Ohio. With a background in Appalachian community and economic development and grassroots engagement, Sam's work focuses on creating welcoming spaces that foster connection, creativity, and local impact through storytelling and shared experiences.

RACHEL SAGER

Over the past decade, Rachel has welcomed 500+ artists from six continents to build what she calls "a cathedral to coal" on eleven acres of concrete and green regrowth. Mosaics of miners, canaries, trains, and forty Pennsylvania birds now cover the walls where her grandfather's generation once dug bituminous coal. Fourth-generation coal country, Rachel has turned this legacy into a thriving small business—bricks and mortar at The Ruins, online teaching, Substack writing, and soon a new book. She builds her work from the same first principle her mother taught her: crown the ordinary with uncommon titles, and people will see what you want them to see. She believes the best stories are built with the conviction of a storyteller who believes in the spaces between truth and fiction.

GEORGE WOOD

George Wood lives and writes in the small Appalachian Village of Amesville, Ohio which is the inspiration for many of his stories. Before turning to fiction, George wrote critically acclaimed books on public school reform, including Schools that Work and A Time to Learn both based on his thirty-year career as a school leader. His short stories have appeared in Flash Fiction online and Reckon Review. George's first novel, The King of Clemens, was published in 2026 by Monday Creek Press. When not writing, George leads his local school district as a supertintendent, chases trout with his fly rod, and walks in the woods with his wife, Marcia.

TYLER WOODBRIDGE

Poet, Novelist, and Activist are just a few of the many hats that jack-of-all-trades performer Tyler Woodbridge wears. Born in a mill town, shaped by travel, and settled in Athens County, the only thing stronger than his will are his words.

LESLIE YINGER

Leslie Yinger, a retired teacher, has lived in Southeast Ohio for 36 years. She has written a book about the memories she has of her grandparents called More Precious than Gold, as well as a sequel—written to her granddaughter for her first birthday—More Precious than Gold: the Flipside.