Feature

Countering the darkness: Fiction writer Ron Rash

As a poet, novelist, and short story writer, Ron Rash tells haunting tales of the American South, particularly of the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains. While his stories are stark, they hint at larger mysteries and marvel at the human capacity for wonder in the midst of suffering. His most recent collection of stories is Something Rich and Strange (see Frykholm's review).

Your stories often exist on the border between realism and wonder. Do you think of yourself as a realist writer?

I am commenting on real conditions, both past and present, not so much as an advocate, but as a witness. That’s the way I hope my work comes across. Yet wonder is a part of human reality as well.