Loretto, PA. March 10, 2025 — The WCoNA Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia® is pleased to announce Deep and Wild: On Mountains, Opossums, & Finding Your Way in West Virginia (Autumn House Press) by Laura Jackson as the winner of the 2025 WCoNA Book of the Year. Jackson was presented with the award at their annual conference held March 7-8 at St. Francis University, Loretto.
In her debut essay collection, Jackson explores what is special about her home state, looking head-on at West Virginia and moving beyond Appalachian stories of hardship and poverty. Instead, Jackson’s collection revels in nature, family, and joy.
“We love the way Laura’s work offers a fresh and profoundly personal perspective on life in West Virginia, one that moves beyond limiting stereotypes or easy cliches,” says Christine Stroud of Autumn House Press.
Kimberly McElhatten, WCoNA’s Book of the Year Committee Chair, says of Jackson and her book, “We particularly admire how Deep and Wild resonates with a wide audience and are pleased to honor such a delightfully funny book.”
Laura Jackson is an environmental writer and humorist, who is a self-described lifelong West Virginian. She holds an MFA from Chatham University. Her work has been included in Brevity, Hippocampus Magazine, Terrain.org, The Journal, Bayou Magazine, and beyond.
The 2025 WCoNA Book of the Year also recognized runner up, Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist by Sherrie Flick, saying, “Flick is already nationally recognized for her short and micro fiction. With her debut essay collection, it’s evident she brings that same level of craft and talent to the essay.”
Each year, WCoNA calls for nominations from its board of directors and publishers at large for noteworthy books that capture the spirit and essence of northern Appalachia. In 2025, this call produced their longest, most diverse list of Book of the Year nominees, furthering WCoNA’s mission to create and promote a canon of writers and writing of northern Appalachia distinguished by its diversity of people and places.
Past WCONA Book of the Year selections have included Smoke to See By Ben Moyer (Catamount/Sunbury Press), And It All Came Tumbling Down by Hannah Allman Kennedy (Watershed Journal Literary Group), Goshen Road by Bonnie Proudfoot (Swallow Press), and Appalachia North by Matthew Ferrence (West Virginia University Press).
ABOUT WCONA
WCoNA champions the voice of northern Appalachia, ensuring its acknowledgment, appreciation, and preservation. They are a catalyst to inspire more novels, poetry, essays, history, memoir, drama, and other modes of literary writing that represent, in some way, the region. Annually, WCoNA brings together writers and others interested in the region’s literature to honor its distinct body of work and to enhance the craft of its authors.
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