LAURA JACKSON
AUTHOR OF
DEEP & WILD:
ON MOUNTAINS, OPOSSUMS,
& FINDING YOUR WAY IN WEST VIRGINIA
REVIEWS
"
I would declare, in 2024, that Laura Jackson be dubbed one of the official voices of West Virginia. There is no one writing with so much love, insight, humor, and heart about this magical place she and so many of us call home.
LORI JAKIELA
They Write Your Name on a Grain of Rice: On Cancer, Love, and Living Even So
"
Laura Jackson's Deep & Wild stretches beyond the clichés of possums, moonshine, and John Denver's country roads to fully embrace West Virginia's contradictions, its beauty, and its wild wonder. Jackson's essays are hilarious, insightful, and wise, and will have you reading along with a wide grin.
DINTY W. MOORE
Between Panic & Desire
"
West Virginia is a complicated place. Its people have a deep connection to the land that Jackson explores here to great emotional and comedic effect. Wide-ranging and marvelously specific, Jackson's charming book will give readers insight into a misunderstood state.
SUSAN MAGUIRE
Booklist
ABOUT LAURA
Laura Jackson is an environmental writer and humorist. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies from Eckerd College, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an MFA from Chatham University, in Pittsburgh.
Her creative nonfiction and humor have appeared in many places, including
the Brevity Blog, Hippocampus, Still, and Bayou Magazine. Her work was listed as “notable” in Best American Essays 2021 and has been nominated for a 2024 Pushcart Prize and the 2024 John Burroughs Nature Essay Award.
Laura writes regularly for publications like Wonderful West Virginia and West Virginia Living magazines and works with local and regional businesses, organizations, and nonprofits.
A West Virginian, mountain mama, and wild woman, she wanders country roads, hikes, paddles, climbs, tubes, skis, camps, and rescues homeless animals. She has an affinity for moss, Appalachian spirits, the smell of a red spruce forest, and the Virginia opossum.
Where to Buy DEEP & WILD
