Gretchen Moran Laskas gave a reading at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education Auditorium on Monday night, which was offered both in-person and online. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On Monday night, community members and teachers interested in learning about Appalachia alike gathered together in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, for the kickoff event for the West Virginia Humanities Council Summer Teacher Institute — a reading by Gretchen Moral Laskas.

This year’s 11-day institute, “Voices from the Misty Mountains, Reclaiming Our Story for a New Appalachia,” is once again featuring a mix of lectures, cultural events and field trips.

“This is the first event in our series of events being held for our Voices from the Misty Mountains Teacher Institute,” said Center for Appalachian Studies Director Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt. “We are really thrilled to have Gretchen Moran Laskas with us! Her stories are really quite wonderful.

“To understand West Virginia, [Gretchen’s novels] are the books to go to!” Shurbutt said. “These may not be ‘the histories of West Virginia,’ but they are great books to go to, to understand it!”

Laskas was the Weatherford Award Winner, the 2012 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence at Shepherd University, the 2012 West Virginia Common Read Writer and one of the artists for the Voices from the Misty Mountains Teacher Institute. Her interactions with Shurbutt’s students include volunteering to drive out and give a lecture on the Cliffs of Moore to a group of Shurbutt’s students visiting Ireland, during Laskas’ residency in Ireland from 2015-2017.

“She knows this state and loves this state, and tries to tell the stories of the state. She tries to blend in West Virginia history with her family’s tales,” Shurbutt said in her introduction.

Laskas herself noted that one of her frequent struggles as an Appalachian author, is with being questioned over whether she has the right to claim that title. But she noted that she was born in West Virginia to a family that had lived in West Virginia for generations, which makes her believe her claim to the title is completely valid — especially with how much West Virginian history inspires her stories. Her 2012 West Virginia Common Read, “The Miner’s Daughter,” focuses on the life of a young West Virginian girl, growing up in the Great Depression, whose family is traumatized by the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster. Laskas read an excerpt from that, as well as another book, “The Midwife’s Tale,” which discusses a common struggle she believes many West Virginia youth face today.

“This is a story of a young woman at the time, whose mother was a midwife and her grandmother had been a midwife, and she was struggling over whether she should stay, or whether she should go,” Laskas said. “Because this is a teacher institute, we’re dealing with people of a certain age who are in a certain place in their lives. I just wanted to read through a section about young people who are going through something similar to what these young people were going through.

“When you live in Appalachia, every single family has to go with the question of, ‘Do I go or do I stay?’ It’s a question that can shatter families or strengthen them,” Laskas said, noting she herself has spent most of her life living outside of Appalachia, following job opportunities. “In Appalachia, the crisis of that decision of whether to stay or go, is much more weighted, especially if you are a family that is relying on the income of your children. These are such big choices!

“Once in a while you have a child who needs to go, and they can’t, or they need to stay, but they can’t,” Laskas said. “I am just delighted to be here tonight, and delighted to be here with people who are on the frontlines, helping young people make these difficult life decisions!”

To learn more about the institute, visit https://www.shepherd.edu/apst-teacher-institute.