Ted Olson

Ted Olson, a professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, discusses how his writing has been impacted by the region’s history, literature and music. He reveals what he learned studying with poet Wendell Berry and the profound influence of editing poetry and stories by the late James Still, resulting in two Appalachian Book of the Year Awards for From the Mountain, From the Valley and The Hills Remember. He also reads from his own poetry collections Revelations and Breathing in Darkness, punctuated with music from Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition, his sixth Grammy nominee.