Celebrating Heritage, Changing Lives
We are improving lives by addressing critical issues surrounding literacy, food insecurity, and access to traditional arts.
MEETING THE CHANGING NEEDS OF Central Appalachia
Literary & arts magazine
The WINTER 2024 issue of untelling includes work from 27 poets, 9 prose writers, and 18 artists from Appalachia and beyond!

Who We Are
Honoring the past, improving the present, and planning for the future of central Appalachia.
Since our founding in 1902, Hindman Settlement School has evolved to meet the changing needs of the region. The Settlement’s work today includes education and service programs that address the critical needs of youth and families while promoting the rich traditional arts of Appalachia.
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For this week’s #FlashbackFriday, we honor Una Pigman, a master weaver who dedicated years to teaching and preserving Appalachian weaving traditions at Hindman Settlement School. In this timeless image, she guides her students, ensuring the art of weaving thrives for generations to come.
Weaving has long been an integral part of Southern Appalachian culture. As settlers arrived in the region, they brought centuries-old techniques, adapting them to local resources like wool, flax, and cotton. Weaving provided not only practical items such as blankets and clothing but also intricate designs that reflected the unique artistry of the Appalachian people.
At Hindman Settlement School, weaving was more than just a craft—it was a way to sustain cultural heritage, build community, and foster self-reliance. Under Pigman’s guidance, students mastered the loom, creating beautiful works of art while connecting with the history of their ancestors. Pigman’s impact extends far beyond her time at Hindman. Her commitment to this traditional art form continues to inspire artisans today, reminding us of the enduring beauty and value of Appalachian weaving.
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…Joe and I visited there….❣
My grandmother had a coverlet woven there which I now have – a prized possession. My grandparents lived in Hazard.
This evening’s square dance has been canceled. We hope you’ll join us next month! … See MoreSee Less
The Branchwater Belles, a Kentucky-based old-timey Bluegrass duo featuring Charity Gilbert and Sophie Delaney, will be on campus Saturday, February 15th for our monthly Gather & Grow. Come out at 5pm and join us for dinner! … See MoreSee Less
Karen Salyer McElmurray, the author of the essay collection I Could Name God in Twelve Ways (University Press of Kentucky, 2024) is joining our faculty to lead the creative non-fiction section.
McElmurray’s Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey, was an AWP Award Winner for Creative Nonfiction. Her novels are The Motel of the Stars, Editor’s Pick by Oxford American, and Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. As a fiction writer, she is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the North Carolina Arts Council. Her work in nonfiction has been a recipient of the Annie Dillard Award for the Essay, the New Southerner Award, the Orison Anthology Award for Creative Nonfiction and, most recently, the LitSouth Award. She has co-edited, with poet Adrian Blevins, an essay collection called Walk till the Dogs Get Mean. Wanting Radiance, a novel, and Voice Lessons, a short collection of lyric essays, came out in 2021.
The application period for the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop 2025 is from now to March 1st. Be sure to apply at Hindman.org/workshop!
#AppalachianWritersWorkshop #AWW25 #HindmanSettlementSchool
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Mandi Fugate Sheffel was born and raised in Redfox, Kentucky. She is the owner of the Read Spotted Newt, an independent bookstore in Hazard, Kentucky, and has been involved with the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and the Appalachian Arts Alliance, among other organizations. Her personal essays and opinion pieces can be found in Still: The Journal, Appalachian Journal, The Lexington Herald-Leader, and The Courier Journal.
At the Workshop, Mandi will offer an afternoon session entitled "Words in Focus: Writing Inspired by Photography."
The application period for the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop 2025 is from now to March 1st. Be sure to apply at Hindman.org/workshop!
#AppalachianWritersWorkshop #AWW25 #HindmanSettlementSchool
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We’d like to introduce you to Jonathan, one of our fantastic AmeriCorps tutors on this #TeamTuesday.
Jonathan joined our team in January 2021 and has been serving students within the Middlesboro Independent School District in Bell County, Kentucky. Jonathan, who holds a Bachelor’s degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Media Communications, has discovered through his years of service with AmeriCorps that he desires to pursue a career as an English teacher once his service ends this summer.
What’s his wish for his students? "To be able to enjoy reading a book without any difficulty."
Thank you, Jonathan, for your service!
Serve Kentucky
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Leading one of our two novel sessions at the 2025 Workshop is the best-selling author Jacinda Townsend.
Townsend is the author of Trigger Warning (Graywolf, 2025) and Mother Country (Graywolf, 2022) and winner of the 2023 Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Townsend’s first novel, Saint Monkey (Norton, 2014), winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction, was an Honor Book of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. A former broadcast journalist and antitrust lawyer, Townsend has written nonfiction for Al Jazeera and The White Review.
Applications for this summer’s gathering are open through March 1st. Be sure to apply at Hindman.org/workshop!
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I am so looking forward to it!
Hindman Settlement School is now on Bluesky! Join us! … See MoreSee Less
I am on blue sky too
The Makery course catalog for Spring 2025 is live!
Check out the offerings and register today at www.hindman.org/themakery!
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