Bankhurst

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On the 10th anniversary of its inception, the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence Project published its first anthology, under the guidance of project founder and director Sylvia Shurbutt and that year’s Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence, Adriana Trigiani. The award-winning author, playwright, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker selected the best submissions from writers across the state of West Virginia, to be published alongside an excerpt from her first novel, “Big Stone Gap,” for which she had been selected for the residency.

Every year since 2008, the selected Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence has produced an Anthology of Appalachian Writers, as a way to memorialize the experience and highlight the work of the most promising amateur short story authors and poets from across the state of West Virginia. But this year, that 17-year tradition has been forced to go on a hiatus, according to current project director Benjamin Bankhurst, who also replaced Shurbutt after her retirement in 2024, as the Shepherd University Center for Appalachian Studies director.

“The anthology had been partially paid for, through two bodies. One was the West Virginia Humanities Council, which just had their grants zeroed out this year. The second one was the West Virginia Center for the Book, who has also had their budgets — both state and federal — slashed. So, we weren’t able to do an anthology for this year, because of that reason,” Bankhurst said.

He made it clear that he foresees this being a temporary issue. However, until funding streams are returned to these or other, similar arts-focused organizations, Bankhurst suggested the solution to this problem might be through community donors.

“Giving circles and donors are more important than ever, in these uncertain financial times,” Bankhurst said.

Bankhurst was able to scrape together enough funding, however, to continue providing another service that is offered every year by the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence Project. The featured, Appalachia-influenced work of the resident author — which this year happens to be Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle’s debut novel, “Even As We Breathe” — is available for the public to read for free online through Oct. 31.

“I was trying to figure out how we were going to offer Annette’s book through BiblioBoard for West Virginia students for free,” Bankhurst said. “The point of that, is to make sure that students — especially those in remote areas — have access to it. We want to encourage them and others, of course, to read more about our region.”

The book can be accessed on the West Virginia Library Commission’s website, at https://wvlc.biblioboard.com/content/2263a60d-082f-4a3f-896b-067cb6e026ad.