From the Back Cover
The language of Among the Believers is alive. The slant couplets, the vigorous and exact meters, the plain yet vivid diction, make the old words sing and the new words seem inevitable. The narratives and dramatic monologues are spoken with an awesome intensity, recalling bothethe harsh times and the spirituality of the mountain past. The poems evoke a special feeling for the ceremonial mysteries of everyday life, and they are haunted by mortality, while turning to honor the dead. With his fresh, surprising voice, Ron Rash creates a living past. _Robert Morgan
About the Author
Ron Rash's family has lived in the southern Appalachian mountains since the mid-1700's, and it is this region that is the primary focus of his writing. Rash grew up in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, and graduated from Gardner-Webb College and Clemson University. He now lives in Clemson, South Carolina, with his wife and two children. He teaches English at Tri-County Technical College and teaches poetry at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts.
In 1987 his fiction won a General Electric Younger Writers Award and in 1994 he was awarded an NEA Poetry Fellowship. He was awarded the Sherwood Anderson Prize in 1996. His poetry and fiction have appeared in a number of journals, including Yale Review, Georgia Review, Oxford American, New England Review, Southern Review, Shenandoah and DoubleTake. He is the author of two books, The Night The New Jesus Fell to Earth, a collection of stories, and Eureka Mill, a collection of poems.
