AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for That Bright Land, the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction and Sir Walter Raleigh Award for A Short Time to Stay Here.



REGIONAL: Appeals to public intrigue of stories set in rural Appalachia.



MASTERFUL STORYTELLING: Cross-over appeal to secular and religious audiences, with mythical and allegorical elements, such as the personification of Death.