LAURA JACKSON
AUTHOR OF
DEEP & WILD
ON MOUNTAINS, OPOSSUMS,
& FINDING YOUR WAY IN WEST VIRGINIA
the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia's
2025 BOOK OF THE YEAR
"What I return to, again and again, is the green earth that rises above us and the water that carves its way down. West Virginia's greatest assets are its deep and wild places, those left behind and off the map."
—Laura Jackson, DEEP & WILD
"The committee was struck by Jackson's exploration of the complex dynamics of West Virginia and, by extension northern Appalachia, with both humor and humility. We particularly admire how Deep and Wild resonates with a wide audience and seeks to understand an often misunderstood and divided region.
We are also delighted to add such a delightfully funny book to our Book of the Year list. Too often, books about northern Appalachia can tend toward exploiting its people and their strife while also overgeneralizing our culture. And for West Virginia, this is perhaps even more true than other states of our region.
Instead, Jackson’s essay collection rises above such tired storylines, tropes, and themes to explore and celebrate the richness and complexity of her home state."
REVIEWS
"
I would declare, in 2024, that Laura Jackson be dubbed one of the official voices of West Virginia. There is no one writing with so much love, insight, humor, and heart about this magical place she and so many of us call home.
LORI JAKIELA
They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice: On Cancer, Love, and Living Even So
"
Laura Jackson's Deep & Wild stretches beyond the clichés of possums, moonshine, and John Denver's country roads to fully embrace West Virginia's contradictions, its beauty, and its wild wonder. Jackson's essays are hilarious, insightful, and wise, and will have you reading along with a wide grin.
DINTY W. MOORE
Between Panic & Desire
"
West Virginia is a complicated place. Its people have a deep connection to the land that Jackson explores here to great emotional and comedic effect. Wide-ranging and marvelously specific, Jackson's charming book will give readers insight into a misunderstood state.
SUSAN MAGUIRE
Booklist
ABOUT LAURA
Laura Jackson is an environmental writer and humorist. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies from Eckerd College, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an MFA from Chatham University, in Pittsburgh.
Her debut essay collection, DEEP & WILD: ON MOUNTAINS, OPOSSUMS, & FINDING YOUR WAY IN WEST VIRGINIA
(Autumn House) won the Autumn House Press 2023 Nonfiction Prize and was named the 2025 Book of the Year by the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia.
Her creative nonfiction and humor have appeared in many places, including
the Brevity Blog, Hippocampus, Still, Belt, and Bayou Magazine.
Her work was listed as “notable” in Best American Essays 2021 and has been nominated for a 2024 Pushcart Prize and the 2024 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award.
A West Virginian, mountain mama, and wild woman, she wanders country roads, hikes, paddles, climbs, tubes, skis, camps, and rescues homeless animals. She has an affinity for moss, Appalachian spirits, the smell of a red spruce forest, and the Virginia opossum.
Where to Buy DEEP & WILD
