Transylvania University awards Judy Gaines Young Book Award to 'Long Man" author

Amy Green, an author living in Tennessee, recently received the Judy Gaines Young Book Award from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky for Long Man: A Novel, which tells the story of a young girl who went missing during the Great Depression.

The book has received praise from national publications such as the Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. 

It is set just before the real-life damming of Long Man River and describes a small Appalachian town that is destined to be flooded in order for the rest of the area to have economic prosperity.

"In this moving story, traditional ways of being in the world and being bound to a particular place are usurped by the interests of a more modern rendition of economy," Maurice Manning, Transylvania writer-in-residence, said. "The tale of human displacement and wandering around a sense of home, of one kind or another, is fundamental to the very idea of Appalachian literature."

The book was chosen by Crystal Wilkinson, a writer in Kentucky and one of the founding members of the Affrilachian Poets collective. The award is meant to honor writers with works based in the Appalachian region.

Greene will accept the award at a ceremony and will offer a free public reading on April 5. The award includes a cash prize amounting to $2,500. In addition, there will be a signed copy of the book kept in the Transylvania Special Collections.