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Gurney Norman

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Gurney Norman was born in Grundy, Virginia in 1937. He grew up in the southern Appalachian Mountains and was raised alternately by his maternal grandparents in Southwest Virginia and his paternal grandparents in East Kentucky in several towns, but primarily in the small community of Allais, near Hazard, in Perry County. He attended Stuart Robinson School in Letcher County, Kentucky, from 1946-1955. Norman attended the University of Kentucky from 1955-1959 graduating with a degree in journalism and English. In 1960, he received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing at Stanford University where he studied with literary critic Malcolm Cowley and the Irish short story writer Frank O'Connor.

After Stanford, Norman spent two years in th Gurney Norman was born in Grundy, Virginia in 1937. He grew up in the southern Appalachian Mountains and was raised alternately by his maternal grandparents in Southwest Virginia and his paternal grandparents in East Kentucky in several towns, but primarily in the small community of Allais, near Hazard, in Perry County. He attended Stuart Robinson School in Letcher County, Kentucky, from 1946-1955. Norman attended the University of Kentucky from 1955-1959 graduating with a degree in journalism and English. In 1960, he received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing at Stanford University where he studied with literary critic Malcolm Cowley and the Irish short story writer Frank O'Connor.

After Stanford, Norman spent two years in the U.S. Army. He returned to eastern Kentucky in 1963 to work as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Hazard Herald. Leaving newspaper work to concentrate on his fiction writing, Norman took a job with the U.S. Forest Service as a fire lookout in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon in the summers of 1966 and '67. In 1971, his novel Divine Right's Trip was published in The Last Whole Earth Catalog and subsequently by the Dial Press and Bantam Books. Norman was one of the founders of the Briarpatch Network in 1974, with Richard Raymond and Michael Phillips. In 1977, his book of short stories Kinfolks, which received Berea College's Weatherford Award, was published by Gnomon Press.

In 1979, Norman joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky as an Associate Professor of English. He currently serves as Director of the English Department’s Creative Writing Program. In 1996 his work as a fiction writer, filmmaker, and cultural advocate was honored at the Fifteenth Annual Emory and Henry College Literary Festival, which celebrates significant writers in the Appalachian region. In 2002 he was honored by the Eastern Kentucky Leadership Conference for outstanding contribution to the advancement of regional arts and culture. In 2007 the Appalachian Studies Association awarded Norman the Helen M. Lewis Community Service Award, which recognizes exemplary contributions to Appalachia through involvement with and service to its people and communities. He serves as Senior Writer-in-Residence at Hindman Settlement School's annual Appalachian Writers Workshop. Norman was selected to serve as the 2009-2010 Poet Laureate for the state of Kentucky, and was officially installed as Laureate on Friday, April 24, 2009. On May 8, 2011, Norman was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Berea College. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. ...more

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Gurney Norman’s books

Average rating: 4.16 · 804 ratings · 99 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	Divine Right's Trip: A Novel of the Counterculture by Gurney Norman, Ed McClanahan (Designer) 4.15 avg rating — 337 ratings — published 1973 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories 4.17 avg rating — 330 ratings — published 1977 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes by Dwight B. Billings (Editor), Gurney Norman (Editor) 4.21 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 1998 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ancient Creek: A Folktale 4.03 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	allegiance 4.37 avg rating — 27 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Old Wounds, New Words: Poems from the Appalachian Poetry Project by Bob Henry Baber (Editor), George Ella Lyon (Editor), Gurney Norman (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1994	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tough Customers and Other Stories: Tales From Tennessee & Southern Appalachia by Mary Bozeman Hodges, Gurney Norman (Introduction) 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1999	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	BOOK ONE FROM CRAZY QUILT, A NOVEL IN PROGRESS AND DEPARTURES by Gurney Norman, Laura Minks 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes by Unknown(2000-11-16) by Gurney Norman, Unknown Author 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Literary Kentucky: An exhitition, 10 September-18 October 2001, The Peal Gallery 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Oh Brother am I running late or what? Got nominations open, but never posted the poll!!! Sorry - but here it is now...Will stay open until October 1st.

Dwellers by Eliza Victoria

3 votes, 60.0%

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson

1 vote, 20.0%

Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories by Gurney Norman

1 vote, 20.0%

5 total votes

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Gurney Norman’s Followers (31)

Gurney Norman

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Gurney Norman’s books