Ron Rash

Ron Rash, born in 1953, is an American poet, short story writer and novelist who holds the Parris Distinguished Professor chair in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University. Much of his fiction is rooted in Appalachia, including the historical novel Serena and the coming-of-age story Saints at the River. Rash is also the author of The World Made Straight, The Cove, and Above the Waterfall, a novel about a sheriff drawn into an investigation of a poisoned trout stream.