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Jesse Stuart was a versatile and prolific writer, producing nearly 500 short stories, a dozen novels and memoirs, and several collections of poetry. Child of a farm family from the Eastern Kentucky hills, he depicted his Appalachian neighbors in all their complexity, celebrating old-fashioned virtues, the farmer’s connection to the land, and the region’s native humor and rich storytelling tradition while keeping a wary eye on the social and economic changes coming to the mountains in the mid-20th century. Though he won both popular and critical acclaim and was in demand as a lecturer and teacher, he always returned to his beloved W-Hollow in Greenup County. In fact, his success as a writer let him realize a childhood dream: The tenant farmer’s son ended up owning almost all the land in the hollow. It is now a state nature preserve.
Come Back to the Farm was the 11th of 16 collections of short stories published during Stuart’s lifetime.
Watch the program [requires RealPlayer®]
Transcript of bookclub@ket discussion
Card catalog entry from the Library of Congress
Blurbs from the book jacket
Amazon.com information page
Barnes and Noble information page
Jesse Stuart Foundation book sales web site
I take with me Kentucky embedded
in my brain and heart,
In my flesh and bone and blood
Since I am of Kentucky
And Kentucky is part of me. |
| from Kentucky Is My Land |
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