Yonder Mountain

About

Yonder Mountain, inspired by poet Miller Williams’s Ozark, Ozark: A Hillside Reader, is rooted in the literary legacy of the Ozarks while reflecting the diversity and change of the region. Readers will find fresh, creative, honest voices profoundly influenced by the landscape and culture of the Ozark Mountains. Poets, novelists, columnists, and historians are represented—Donald Harington, Sara Burge, Marcus Cafagna, Art Homer, Pattiann Rogers, Miller Williams, Roy Reed, Dan Woodrell, and more.

Editor

Anthony Priest is associate professor of English at Missouri State University–West Plains.

Review

“Yonder Mountain is a must-read for anyone interested in the Ozarks. It also stands as a model for how regional literature can tell local stories that appeal to and say more to us about the broader human condition—beyond place and regionalism.”
—J. Blake Perkins in Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies, December 2013

Praise

“Here’s a new collection for a new world. No Sadies, no Abners, no corn cob pipes—a roustabout scamming vouchers at DFW, a neo-Nazi killer on the lam, a woman from the Philippines washing dishes in Missouri. ‘I am Ozarker,’ she says. We believe her and read on.”
—Robert Cochran, author of Vance Randolph: An Ozark Life

“Some would say being from the Ozarks is a blessing. Others would say it’s a burden. The truth, of course, is somewhere in between. Within the pages of Yonder Mountain, you’ll find steadfast Ozark voices that mirror all three perspectives: those who are grateful, those who are conflicted, those who persevere.”
—Susan Young, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History

“An anthology with Ozarks in the title conjures up images of romantic tales and poetry that depict the pastoral lifestyle of the hills, but from the opening pages to the final story of this brilliantly put-together collection, the reader is made aware that these Ozark authors have realized their once-unique culture is threatened. Loss and death hover over the hickory trees, cemeteries sprout on abandoned farmland and in deserted towns, and displaced Ozark inhabitants have become alienated to the point of paralysis. Yonder Mountain is a stunning example of how authors selected from one specific region can represent the pain and confusion, the inexorable changes that typify all of contemporary America.”
—Pat Carr, author of The Death of a Confederate Colonel: Civil War Stories and a Novella and One Page at a Time: On a Writing Life

“Beloved, feared, stereotyped, mythologized, shamed, and revered: the Ozarks region is and has been all of these. Garnering work from folk who know the region best, Priest serves up a trove of fine writing and an unflinching look at a region that continues to both bewitch and confound.”
—Jo McDougall, author of Daddy’s Money

“Written by some of the best writers of the area, the poetry, fiction, and nonfiction essays in this anthology give us a modern as well as historical view of the Ozarks and provide a vivid portrayal of the land and people of this unique area.”
—Ellen Gray Massey, author of Footprints in the Ozarks: A Memoir