Gerry Milnes
Gerry Milnes will be signing copies of his books from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm outside the Craft Shop.
Gerald “Gerry” Milnes, recipient of the 2026 NEA Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship, is a folklorist, musician, filmmaker, and author whose work over five decades has played a central role in documenting, preserving, and sharing the folk traditions of Appalachia. Through field recordings, films, books, and public programs, Milnes has helped bring national attention to the everyday artists, musicians, and communities that carry the region’s cultural traditions forward. Gerry lives in Elkins, WV.
Natalie Sypolt
Natalie Sypolt will be signing copies of her book from 1:00am-2:30pm outside the Craft Shop.
A native of Preston County, Natalie Sypolt lives and writes in West Virginia. She is the author of The Sound of Holding Your Breath (2018, West Virginia University Press) and her work has appeared in Glimmer Train, Appalachian Review (formerly Appalachian Heritage), Still: The Journal, r.kv.r.y., Superstition Review, Paste, Willow Springs Review, and The Kenyon Review Online, among other fine journals. Natalie is the winner of the Glimmer Train New Writers Contest, the Betty Gabehart Prize, the West Virginia Fiction Award, and the Still fiction contest. She was the first runner-up for the Poets Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. Additionally, Natalie is co-owner and editor of Change Seven Magazine and is the immediate past President of the Appalachian Studies Association.