Ep. 54 | Conversations: Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. & Robert Gipe
In Read Appalachia’s brand new series, Read Appalachia features Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. and Robert Gipe in conversation.
Things Mentioned
Books Mentioned
Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.
Tore All to Pieces by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.
Trampoline by Robert Gipe
Weedeater by Robert Gipe
Pop by Robert Gipe
Cipher by Jeremy Jones
Country Queers by Rae Garringer
Worth Burning by Mickie Kennedy
Many-Storied House by George Ella Lyon
Safety of Small Things by Jane Hicks
Dear Mothman by Robin Gow
But for Fortune by Erin Reid
If Only the Rain Would Come by Natalie Sypolt
In the Fields of Fatherless Children by Pamela Steele
Every Bone a Prayer by Noah Ashley Blooms
Guest Info
© Willie Carver Jr.
Willie Carver Jr. is an LGBTQ+ youth advocate and KY Teacher of the Year. His Gay Poems for Red States is a Stonewall honor, Whippoorwill, American Library Association, Read Appalachia, and Book Riot Award recipient shortlisted for the 2024 Judy Gaines-Young Book Award. His fragmented novel, Tore All to Pieces, was published in March 2026.
His writing has been published in Appalachian Journal, Southern Humanities Review, Young Ravens Review, Another Chicago, Harbor Review, Smoky Blue Literary, Miracle Monocle, Good River Review, Salvation South, Gay & Lesbian Review, among others.
Willie writes from Appalachia and believes everyone's story matters.
© Amelia Kirby
Robert Gipe won the 2015 Weatherford Award for outstanding Appalachian novel for his first novel Trampoline. His second novel, Weedeater, was published in 2018. His third novel, Pop, was published in 2021. All three novels are published by Ohio University Press. In 2021, the trilogy won the Judy Gaines Young Book Award. From 1997 to 2018, Gipe directed the Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College Appalachian Program in Harlan. Gipe is founding producer of the Higher Ground community performance series, and has served as a script consultant for the Hulu series Dopesick and a producer on the feature film The Evening Hour. Gipe resides in Harlan County, Kentucky. He grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee.
