“This collection is a must-read for activists and scholars seeking a fuller sense of queerness as a political enterprise always becoming and undone, shaped by an insistence that y’all matters—I can hardly think of a more pressing project for our times.”
—Mary L. Gray, 2020 MacArthur Fellow, author and editor of dozens of articles and several books, including In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth
“These deeply personal and theoretically informed essays explore the fight for social justice and inclusivity in Appalachia through the intersections of environmental action, LGBTQA+ representational politics, anti-racism, and movements for disability justice. This Appalachia is inhabited by a queer temporality and geography, where gardening lore teaches us that seeds dance into plants in their own time, not according to a straight-edged neoliberal discipline.”
—Rebecca Scott, author of Removing Mountains: Extracting Nature and Identity in the Appalachian Coalfields
"This collection is disruptive and unsettling—in the very best ways. Just when we think we understand queerness in Appalachia, it is troubled and turned inside out again, leaving us uncertain and inspired to keep asking questions.”
—Meredith McCarroll, author of Unwhite: Appalachia, Race, and Film
“This exuberant collection tears away falsehoods, challenges hierarchies, and presents memoir and scholarship on new ways of understanding the Queer past and present of Appalachia. Resisting conformity, hatred, and oppression in Appalachia is to resist these nationwide. These writers demonstrate not only that Appalachia is central to LGBT activism, but also that queerness in Appalachia is central to the wider movements for dignity, equity, and social justice in the United States.”
—Steven Stoll, author of Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia
“Too often writers and artists from Appalachia find themselves on the defensive, responding to the many ways that popular media misrepresents the region and erases complexities of gender, race, and sexuality. Not so in Y’all Means All. As members of radical queer communities, the authors imagine the past, present, and future in Appalachia with sharp analysis and glorious storytelling. They define Appalachia on their own terms, with theoretical ferment, honesty, and heart.”
—Jessica Wilkerson, Associate Professor and Stuart & Joyce Robbins Distinguished Chair in History, West Virginia University
“Weaving together stories of intersectional queer life with questions of place, politics, and belonging, Y'all Means All offers readers a nuanced and necessary portrait of Appalachia. These essays are as raw and vulnerable as they are smart and context-driven, each one offering richer understanding of the region through powerful personal testimony. A much-needed remedy to the reactionary views of Appalachia we get from mainstream presses and corporate news, this book is balm.”
—Raechel Anne Jolie, author of Rust Belt Femme
“Overlooked and overshadowed by the dominant narrative, this collection works to reconnect queerness with the region through signposts of identities, marginalization, and trauma.”
—Tijah Bumgarner, filmmaker
“Well-researched, emotionally resonant, and beautifully made.”
—Jesse Graves, Professor of English and Poet in Residence, East Tennessee State University
“We need loud voices such as these to empower those who may be afraid or unable to speak out.”
—Travis Rountree, assistant professor in the English department at Western Carolina University
“It is refreshing nevertheless to see so many queer Appalachians forging a diverse future of Appalachia that demands inclusion.”
—Caleb Pendygraft, PhD., Assistant Professor of Humanities, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
“Definitely a must-read for anyone working at the intersections of Appalachian Studies and queer theory!”
—Jessica Cory, editor of Mountains Piled Upon Mountains