Lorraine Dresch is an educator based in Southwest Virginia. In addition to teaching high school, Dresch leads Why Did School Lie?, a series of monthly public history classes that explore the myths and gaps in mainstream U.S. history education. Dresch is a Virginia Humanities K-12 Educator Fellow (2025 & 2022) and the Encyclopedia Virginia Fellow (2025); previously, they represented Region 7 as the Anne and Ryland Brown Teacher Research Fellow at the Library of Virginia (2023). Dresch is the editor of Out in the Valley (2022), a collection of personal narratives by LGBTQ+ authors in the Shenandoah Valley. Their writing has appeared in The Georgia Review, Jimson Weed, The Sigma Tau Delta Review, and The Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle.

BIO COMING SOON

Sarah Jane Gilliam is an Appalachian writer and Assistant Professor of English from Big Stone Gap, Virginia. When she isn't teaching or writing, you can find her seeking out adventures and hunting for fossils and river glass with her 10-year-old son. Some of her previous and upcoming work can be read in, Jimson Weed, Still: The Journal, Suburban Witchcraft Magazine, Pink Panther Magazine, The Font: A Literary Journal for Language Teachers, SLANT: A Poetry Journal, and Pine Mountain Sand Gravel. She received a 2024 Pushcart Prize nomination for her short fiction piece, “The Easter Jesus.”

After a decades-long theatre career, Laura Miller, Ph.D., moved to Appalachia to take charge of the theatre program at UVa-Wise. She created and managed the Theatre Major degree program, and when she left the college, all of her major graduates were employed in the field. She then split her time between Wise and New Orleans, where she was commissioned to write a play to be performed as a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief. The play, Katrina/Ultreya, received numerous successful productions around the country. She then worked for Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, initially serving as a volunteer and board officer. She also served two terms on the governing committee for the Alliance for Appalachia, and remains active in both organizations. Most recently she began work as a contract reporter for The Coalfield Progress, focusing on local government because “someone needs to keep an eye on this, and citizens deserve to be informed”.

Jess is the daughter of Kimberly Ellen, the granddaughter of Phyllis Jean, and the great-granddaughter of Wonnie Francis. A performance artist and organizer, Jess currently resides in Southwestern VA by way of the hills and hollers of EKY where she was born and raised. A trained theater practitioner, Jess has participated on-stage and behind the scenes in over two dozen theatrical productions, most notably Macbeth, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Urinetown, and Medea. 

Currently, Jess serves on the board of ASNW, Patchwork Kinfolx, ProArt, and Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. Above all else, she is mommy to two little babies. She can also make a mean meatloaf and cast iron pone. She’s working on the apple stack. Check back later.

Rachel can be found making art under the creative moniker, Orchard. Orchard is a born and raised Central Appalachian who considers themself an amateur outsider multidisciplinary artist. They do their best painting with words and are known to dabble and dilly dally in multiple artistic disciplines. They are a co-creator and co-lead organizer for Patchwork Kinfolx, a grassroots cultural care organization and art collective focusing on marginalized folx with an affinity for the rural LGBTQIA+ community. They are a co-founder of Cumberland Mountain Mutual Aid. They are a co-founder of The Care Collective of Southwest Virginia, a group of multiply marginalized Southwest Virginians looking to reimagine and rebuild traditional models of care work in SWVA. Rachel holds a B.A. in History with a minor in Women’s Studies from The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. They received a M.A. in Humanities with a concentration in Gender and Queer studies from Old Dominion University.

Orchard is a professional enby, chronically ill, and chronically chill disabled queer, who is studying to become a cartographer of their own vulnerability.

BIO COMING SOON