Special to the Register
RICHMOND —
A new video series titled “Head of the Holler” and produced by Berea College will debut on KET through August. The first episode will air Sunday and will feature renowned author Silas House.
In a half-hour show, House discusses growing up in eastern Kentucky, the changes he has seen, the inspiration for his novels and his struggle to protect his own holler. House recently was appointed the National Endowment for the Humanities chair in Appalachian Studies at Berea College.
House, the award-winning author of four best-selling novels, two plays and other works, will teach three classes each year along with writing and working with students. This fall, he will be teaching Appalachian Literature and an advanced course in creative writing.
Other guests who have already been interviewed include Bill Turner, Pat Banks, Mimi Pickering, and Melody Skidmore and Hope Brown — two teachers from eastern Kentucky. The producers of “Head of the Holler” hope to include a remote episode with participants in Grow Appalachia from Henderson Settlement.
Dr. Chad Berry, director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, hosts “Head of the Holler.” Berry also is Goode Professor of Appalachian Studies, Director of Appalachian Studies, Professor of History, and Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning through Service (CELTS). Dr. Berry is a Notre Dame alumnus and graduate of Western Kentucky University and doctorate graduate of Indiana University. Dr. Chad Berry came to Berea College in 2006 from Maryville College, where he taught for 11 years. He is the author of “Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles,” published by the University of Illinois Press. The book examines the migration of millions of white southerners to the Midwest during the 20th century. In 2005, the East Tennessee Historical Society awarded him its Teaching Excellence Award. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he was the 2006-2007 president of the Appalachian Studies Association.
Turner is a University of Kentucky alumnus and a doctorate graduate of Notre Dame University. Turner had held the NEH Chair position since 2007 before retiring and passing the position on to House. Turner was the first to combine interests in the fields of African-American and Appalachian Studies, having been the first Director of AAS at Notre Dame (1969) and publishing a book titled simply “Blacks in Appalachia” (1985). Turner was appointed (Visiting) Goode Professor of Black & Appalachian Studies at Berea (1988). He has held positions in teaching, research and administration at several colleges and universities.
Banks, a professional artist and children’s book illustrator from Richmond, teaches art to k-12 students. Banks grew up in an artistic household and her earliest memories are about coloring and drawing. In second grade, she learned to watercolor and her journey as an artist began.
Banks is a member of the Arts Kentucky Board, a founder of a Richmond non-profit art gallery, and director of the Kentucky Riverkeeper — an organization which helps to increase awareness of the importance of keeping Kentucky rivers healthy and clean. Banks is working on a project she calls the “Big Idea,” which involves looking at all the issues about the river, the problems facing it, and finding solutions to those problems.
Pickering is a filmmaker who has been working with Appalshop since 1970. Pickering’s documentaries often feature women as principle storytellers, focus on injustice and inequity, and explore the efforts of grassroots people to deal with community problems and work for change. Pickering especially is interested in the interplay and dynamics associated with combining traditional cultural aesthetics with social change agency.
Pickering’s award-winning documentaries include “The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man” (1975), which was one of 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant motion pictures named by the Librarian of Congress to the National Film Registry in 2005.
The schedule for the “Head of the Holler” series is available on the KET website.
“Head of the Holler” is produced by Jay Buckner, news manager at Berea College.
