Anthony, Joseph G.

Joseph G. Anthony, a New Jersey-born Kentucky author, moved in 1980 from what he considered the center of the country--Manhattan's Upper West Side--to Hazard, Kentucky. "It was a place so isolated and obscure that I at first felt as lost as a missing person. But it was, I discovered, its own country." In fiction he began to explore its beauty, its many problems, its strengths and its weaknesses. "Fiction feels and understands: racism is in your face, poverty on your back. News stories can only report."

Anthony, an English professor for 35 years, is a hybrid-Kentuckian now. His accent mi...