Since Robert Gipe released his first published work, an illustrated novel titled "Trampoline," he's been getting a lot of questions.
From journalists, friends, or just an excited reader, he hears a lot of the same stuff. What inspired you to write it? How long did it take? Why did you include illustrations?
But the kicker, the one he's heard so many times that he just spits out a response before you can even assemble the question: "What are you doing writing in first-person, female narrative as a guy?"
Gipe is in his early 50s. His narrator, Dawn Jewell, is 20, but she's recalling her life at 15. She lives in eastern Kentucky. Her grandmother is an environmental activist waging war against coal companies. Her mother is an addict.
Hearing a 15-year-old girl's voice in his head is just a natural thing at this point, Gipe said.
"I hear that voice more than the voice in my head," Gipe said. "... For better or worse, I'm fairly in touch with my inner 15-year-old."
Chances are high Jessie Van Eerden doesn't receive the same kind of eyebrow-raised questioning for her choice of narrator. In her second novel, "My Radio Radio," Van Eerden's main character, Omi Ruth Wincott, is 12 going on 13. She's the youngest member of Dunlap Fellowship of All Things Common, a common-purse community living in a small town in Indiana. Omi's brother, Woodrun, dies. New people move to the community and she begins to withdraw from the world.
Both writers, Gipe and Van Eerden, have their share in common. They hail from Appalachia - Gipe is from Tennessee, but calls eastern Kentucky home now. Van Eerden grew up in Preston County, but now lives and works in Buckhannon, West Virginia. Van Eerden directs the Master of Fine Arts writing program for West Virginia Wesleyan. Gipe directs the Appalachian Program at Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College in Cumberland, Kentucky.
And they will both be coming to Taylor Books in downtown Charleston to talk about their new books Saturday. They'll read a selection from their newest work - Gipe's "Trampoline" and Van Eerden's "My Radio Radio." They'll have a discussion about writing, Appalachia and anything else that comes to mind before a question-and-answer session.
Like all Taylor Talks, the event is free. Refreshments will be provided along with alcoholic beverages for sale. The pair will be on hand after to chat and sign copies of their book.
Since Taylor Talks' launch in February, this is the first time two authors will be sharing the stage. And it's the first time Taylor Books is hosting fiction writers.
Van Eerden said she's excited to look at the commonalities, but also the differences that she and Gipe share.
For one, Gipe's narrator, Dawn, is very much a part of the external world. She joins her grandmother's fight aganist mountaintop removal mining. She's restless and speaks her mind. Van Eerden's character, Omi, withdraws into herself. Living in the commune, Omi lives a very internal life. She holds her secrets and thoughts within.
"I really loved channeling a voice, being inhabited by a particular character," Van Eerden said. After first working on some short stories, Van Eerden said she found a 15-year-old girl's voice, that's the voice Omi grew from.
"I was interested in the melding of things you obsess over at that age," Van Eerden said. Things like obsessing over shaving your legs or starting your period, while beginning to gain awareness of the gravity of life, beginning to wrap your mind around some of life's greater questions.
Gipe said his inspiration came from the people he's met, from the students he teaches and from his own personal experiences.
In 2003, he began work on a new project, called Higher Ground, through his college, the Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. The project collected oral histories of people living in Cumberland, Kentucky, and surrounding towns and then turned the stories into a full-length musical. Its goal is to create public art of the very real issues facing many eastern Kentucky communities. Since that first play, Higher Ground has put on four more.
While Gipe was listening to stories of struggle, of how the decline in coal has affected his neighbors or how the rise of prescription drugs is affecting families, he was also involved with a community group to try and get some land declared unsuitable for strip mining.
During that time, he started writing. He started drawing illustrations. He started to find his narrator.
"I got to hear a lot of stories, hear how people tell their story in public, how they protect themselves when telling a story," Gipe said.
Through Dawn, he began to explore the nature of a protective narrator, like many of the teens and 20 somethings he teaches. His students, he said, "have so much to say, so much is painful, and none of your business."
Dawn exhibits that same attitude.
"It's the kind of reluctant narrator. ... My book is much more how people reveal themselves, especially when they reveal themselves in fits and starts."
Gipe and Van Eerden will reveal more about themselves, their work when they speak at Taylor Books Saturday starting at 6 p.m. For more information, call Taylor Books at 304-342-1461.
Reach Anna Patrick at anna.patrick@wvgazettemail.com or 304-348-4881.