NELSONVILLE, Ohio – The Appalachian Literary Arts and Storytelling Festival is set to host its inaugural event this weekend, Saturday, Oct. 5 and Sunday, Oct. 6 on the Public Square in Nelsonville.
The festival will celebrate the rich tradition of storytelling and literary arts in Appalachia, with a variety of activities, including guest speakers, workshops and performances by local storytellers. The festival is open to the public and free to all attendees.
It all began when Kayleigh Cox was awarded a fellowship through the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio’s Growing Home Fellowship Program.
“I started thinking about how I can create more authentic opportunities for the students in my class and other people in the community to participate in the arts and literature and just tell authentic, good Appalachian stories,” Cox said, referring to her eighth grade English Language Arts class at Logan-Hocking Middle School. “And so then the festival came to fruition.”
Cox worked with various sponsors and organizations to raise money for the festival and its programming. Some of the festival’s main sponsors include Stuart’s Opera House, the Ohio Arts Council, the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, the People’s Bank Foundation and others.
For Cox, the central goal of the festival is “to cultivate, nurture, preserve that multi-generational celebration of community.” With this goal in mind, the festival sought to bring in storytellers of all varieties, including musicians, authors and artists.
“We’re trying to support all the businesses directly on the square and even extending out from that a little bit,” Cox said. “Just thinking about all the different ways that we tell stories with businesses, organizations, art galleries, coffee shops.”
With the 2024 election looming, Cox sees the festival as a way to bring together community and share authentic Appalachian culture.
“Being in election year, it feels even more important for the festival. It’s a month before elections and it feels like prime time for drive-by journalism — stories that aren’t necessarily representative of an entire region,” She said. “[The festival] is an opportunity for people to tell their real true stories in whatever form fits them.”
The festival will have two keynote speakers: Roger May and Elaine McMillion. May, the operations director for Kentucky-based Appalshop, is the founder of Looking at Appalachia, a website where photographers can share their images of and stories about the region. His own photographs have appeared in publications such as The New York Times and National Geographic.
McMillion is a documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on Netflix and multiple film festivals. Her 2017 film “Heroin(e)” — a look at three women trying to make a difference in Huntington, West Virginia, at the height of the opioid epidemic — received an Academy Award nomination. Her most recent film, “King Coal,” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Festival.
On the square, live music, interactive storytelling exhibits and guided partner activities such yoga, bike riding and hiking will be offered. 30 Public will host several workshops for those looking to improve their storytelling skills, and New Leaf Marketplace will host various author readings on Saturday.
Stuart’s Opera House will host a traditional Appalachian Liar’s Contest in which participants are encouraged to take the stage and share their biggest lie on stage. At the end, the crowd will vote on whose story was the most compelling.
Admission to all events is free, although pre-registration is required for the storytelling awards ceremony on Sunday. The ALAS festival begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, on Nelsonville’s Public Square. A full itinerary of events and information can be found online.
