Dear Editor--

I am a junior English Writing major at Marshall University in WV. I am writing, because a grad student at MU, and myself are compiling an anthology of Appalachian literature. (Essays mostly, poetry, short fiction, and photography.) The anthology will focus on enthnicity, and gender in Appalachia.

I was born, and raised on Buffalo Creek, WV. My grandfather, or Peapaw as we called him, crossed the Rio Grande at 16 during the Mexican Revolution, and my great-grandparents on my father’s side were Hungarian immigrants. We are starting this anthology, titled, "Appalachia Uncovered: Voices of Difference, and Descent" to give voice to those who are commonly unheard: Appalachians descended from African-Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and so on.

We plan to donate all of the proceeds from this project to a program at MU dealing with the study of Appalachians.

Unfortunately, Maura, and I don’t have the funds to pay contributors. We are taking donations from organizations, businesses, and individuals to raise funding for things such as long-distance phone calls, letters, brochures...et cetera. We also had a poetry reading on March 27 at Marshall University to raise funds. The reading included guest speaker Dr. Randall Norris, author of "Women of Coal;" professors, and students of Marshall University. We plan to have more in the future.

It would be of great help if you could include some information about this project in your paper as we are currently accepting submissions until December 31,1999. I hope you'll consider helping us spread the word.

Thanks for your time,

Andrea Fekete, Appalachia Uncovered Project Director