For Release: Jan. 8, 2007
He was born in Alabama, but James Still considered Eastern Kentucky the inspiration for all his stories and the place where he "exercised as much freedom and peace as the world allows."On the tenth anniversary of the program's premiere, KET presents a special encore of James Still's River of Earth , a loving portrait of Still, whose publishing career spanned more than 70 years, beginning with the 1929 article "Place Names in the Cumberland Mountains." Through interviews with Still, Mike Mullins of the Hindman Settlement School and writers Wilma Dykeman, Chris Offutt, George Ella Lyon and the late Jim Wayne Miller, the documentary, airing Sunday, Jan. 21 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET2, reveals some of what inspired the many-faceted, rather mysterious author. Reminiscences about his youth complemented by old photographs of his early years at the Hindman Settlement School also illuminate the life of Still, who died in 2001.
Still first came to Kentucky in 1931 to run a summer program at the Hindman Settlement School. He stayed on and worked for food as the school's librarian. In 1939, he moved to a small cabin deep in the woods in order to devote himself to his writing and gardening (he was an expert botanist).
Hindman Settlement School Director Mike Mullins describes the power Still's work has on Eastern Kentuckians. "Here was something speaking to me about my experience ... If there is no literature about who you are, then you're trying to find where you fit. River of Earth helps place me where I fit," says Mullins.
River of Earth and Still's first published work, Hounds on the Mountain , earned him the Southern Authors Award, the Academy of Arts and Letters Award and the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award along with two Guggenheims and a Bread Loaf Fellowship.
Kentucky writer Jim Wayne Miller, who died just a month after being interviewed for the program, discusses the power of minimalism in Still's work. "Everything comes into it," he says. "All the other little concerns and themes feed in just like little feeder streams into the river of earth."
For his part, Still believed his stories, though set in Appalachia, were universal. "I'm writing about people," he said, "and people are pretty much the same everywhere when it comes right down to it."
James Still's River of Earth is a KET production, directed by independent producer/director Heather Lyons. Guy Mendes served as producer for the program; Cindy Asher, associate producer; and Nancy Carpenter, executive producer. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.