S. 7 Ep. 141 Appalachia is Overflowing with guests Bobi Conn and Kendra Winchester

This week is a hybrid episode as we slowly creep back into a recording schedule after a nice long summer break. We’ve got Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky on our minds because of the recent catastrophic flooding in parts of the state so we decided that we’d rebroadcast part of an earlier episode with Kendra Winchester, founder of Read Appalachia on Instagram, who champions Appalachian writers on her feed.

But we also had the opportunity to speak this week with Bobi Conn, an Appalachian author and friend of the show who we interviewed in June of 2020 about her debut memoir In the Shadow of the Valley, a raw and unflinching look at growing up in Eastern Kentucky and her dysfunctional family. Bobi has a new novel coming out at the end of August call A Woman In Time that incorporates more family stories she heard about her great grandpa, a moonshiner, and her great grandmother, who held the family together.

Did you know that helping flood victims can be as easy as buying a book? This Saturday, August 6, Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville KY will donate all profits from book sales from all 3 stores and their website to Eastern Kentucky flood relief funds organized by Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and the Hindman Settlement School. Their website is www.carmichaelsbookstore.com.

We will be back next week with the true start of Season 7 and an all new episode. Happy Reading!

You can find Bobi Conn on Instagram https://instagram.com/bobiconn/ and her website www.bobiconn.com.

You can find Kendra Winchester @readappalachia and @Kdwinchester

You can find shownotes for any episode at our website www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a BookLover

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- A Woman in Time by Bobi Conn
2- In the Shadow of the Valley by Bobi Conn
3- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
4- Embers on the Wind by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg
5- Finna by Nino Cipri
6- Defekt by Nino Cipri
7- Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan
8- Sabriel by Garth Nix
9- Books by Tamora Pierce
10- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
11- Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
12- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
13- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
14- The Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson
15- Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker
16- Southernmost by Silas House
17- Black Bone: 25 Years of Affrilachian Poets edited by Bianca Lynne Spriggs and Jeremy Paden
18- Water Street by Crystal Wilkinson
19- Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
20- Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Cladsaddle
21- Step Into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia edited by Amy Greene and Trent Thomson