James Still

"James Still was a huge influence on my own writing and my understanding of how to be a writer. Though a good friend, he remained a paradox—open, congenial, friendly (sometimes a downright flirt!) as he held court in his rocking chair on the porch at Hindman, he was also the most private man I have ever known well—almost mysterious. Carol Boggess's graceful and informative biography sheds light into many shaded places and dark rooms of his long life, illuminating the sources and passions of this beloved giant of American literature, one of the greatest writers of all time."—Lee Smith, author of Dimestore: A Writer's Life

"This literary biography explores the enigmas of James Still's life and writing while cherishing his mysteries. He was a solitary man who forged deep friendships with national and regional writers like Katherine Ann Porter and Jim Wayne Miller. Deeply attentive to the land and ways of eastern Kentucky, he enjoyed travelling across the country and indeed the world. Always a serious writer, he had a sometimes wicked sense of humor. Boggess carefully explores the man and the myths and thankfully honors both."—Judi Jennings, independent scholar and James Still's unlikely travelling companion

"I have read, studied, written about, and edited James Still's work since 1990, and yet I learned many new things about Still from this book. In illuminating Still's overlooked formative years, such as his boyhood in Alabama and his college years in Tennessee, this well-written biography clarifies how Still's early experiences were crucial to the development of the author's distinctive literary voice, so integrally associated with eastern Kentucky but bearing subtle yet profound influences from elsewhere. This biography reveals the considerable extent to which Still was simultaneously of the hills and of the broader world."—Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University, editor of From the Mountain, From the Valley and The Hills Remember