Press Release

October 11, 2006                           

Contact: Vivian Stockman 304-522-0246

Writers and poets to tour West Virginia mountaintop
removal sites, meet with affected residents

Press Conference 1 p.m. Tuesday Oct. 17
at Taylor Books, Capitol St., Charleston

CHARLESTON, W. VA. – A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sharp writing moves mountains. Or, in this case, stops mountaintop removal.

So hope the organizers of the first West Virginia writers’ tour of mountaintop removal, to be held October 16 and 17.

About twenty Appalachian writers are registered for the event, including West Virginia Poet Laureate Irene McKinney, award-winning novelist Denise Giardina and poet Delilah O’Haynes.

On Monday the 16th, the writers will converge on Kayford Mountain, about 45 minutes from Charleston, to view mountaintop removal first hand. Many of the writers will fly over mountaintop removal operations in small aircraft with the nonprofit group SouthWings.

In the evening, they will meet residents from Mingo, Logan, Lincoln, Boone and Raleigh counties who live in the shadow of the massive strip mining operations. 

Tuesday morning, the writers will meet to compose a statement regarding their encounter with mountaintop removal. The statement will be released at a 1 p.m. press conference that day, October 17, at Taylor Books, 226 Capitol St., Charleston.

“Writers create. We use our words to describe the majesty of the mountains. Coal companies destroy. Those of us who create must confront this evil,” said Giardina, who is also a West Virginia State University professor.

O’Haynes, who is also a Concord University professor, just released The Character of Mountains. The book, a collection of poetry and photography about the Appalachian people and landscape, has already been nominated for the Appalachian Book of the Year award.

The tour is organized by the Huntington-based Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and the Friends of the Mountains coalition.  Other key organizers include Richwood mayor and poet Bob Henry Baber; Marshall University professor Chris Green, who has just edited Coal: A Poetry Anthology; and featured author in the Summer 2006 issue of Appalachian Heritage Jeff Mann, who teaches literature and creative writing at Virginia Tech.

“We’ve modeled this event on the Mountain Witness Tours organized by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, which generated nationwide attention,” said Tonya Adkins, an OVEC staff member. 

“A crucial element of this project is for the writers to interact with people whose lives are in turmoil because of mountaintop removal,” Adkins said. “Their voices are eloquent and authentic because of what they are going through. We think the interaction will inspire writers to use their craft to help end mountaintop removal.” 

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