Sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council, the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award was established to promote and encourage a literature rich in cultural significance and tradition.
Stretching from the hills of Georgia and Alabama to Quebec Province and under the sea to the highlands of Scotland, the series of mountains referred to in North America as the “Appalachian Chain” have produced traditions and a language that have remained distinct in a world rapidly moving toward homogeneity. The music and story traditions that tie the hills of Gaelic Scotland to Appalachia have in large part remained intact, and the cultural heritage on this side of the Atlantic has grown to encompass an indigenous Native American strain that has mingled with the Scotch/Irish. The mixture is both unique and unusually rich in oral tradition and a love of language and story-telling.
Shepherd College and the Department of English are proud to honor those literary artists who have found sustenance and material from this heritage. The Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award is presented annually to a writer whose work features or draws upon, in some respect, this cultural heritage. The recipient of the award fulfills a brief residency each fall, enriching the campus and community with lectures, workshops, and special programs as part of The Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence Project, a West Virginia Humanities Council sponsored program. The award is presented as part of the Appalachian Heritage Festival, held each fall in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in connection with the Performing Arts Series at Shepherd.