A course exploring the rich literary heritage of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the greater Appalachian region, surveying its local history and diversity as well as its wider significance for American art. Authors covered may include early figures such as William Wells Brown, the first African-American novelist, and John Fox Jr., the first million-selling novelist; Robert Penn Warren, first Poet Laureate of the United States and author of All the King's Men; Elizabeth Madox Roberts; Harriette Arnow, winner of the National Book Award in 1954 for The Dollmaker; counter-cultural writers of the 60's and 70's such as Hunter S. Thompson, Gurney Norman, and Ed McClanahan; contemporary Kentucky writers such as Wendell Berry, Erik Reece, Bobbie Ann Mason, Sara Jeter Naslund, C. E. Morgan, Kim Edwards, and Gayle Jones; and contemporary award-winning poets such as Frank X Walker, Nikky Finney, and Maurice Manning. Open to students from any major. Provides ENG Major Elective credit and ENG minor credit.