WEEREAD – Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore & Everyday Culture in Appalachia Anna Cipoletti November 28, 2022 In Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore & Everyday Culture in Appalachia, author and state folklorist Emily Hilliard explores West Virginian traditions both old and new. These observations are informed by ...
WEEREAD: Foote, A Mystery Novel Anna Cipoletti August 16, 2022 Meet James “Big Jim” Foote: longtime Morgantown resident, private investigator, and bigfoot. After decades spent hiding in plain sight as a bigfoot, observing and blending in come naturally to Jim, so working a...
WEEREAD: The Marrowbone Marble Company Anna Cipoletti June 8, 2022 On all accounts, protagonist Loyal Ledford seems to be a typical American man: The Marrowbone Marble Company opens on an eighteen-year-old Ledford working for the Mann Glass Company while taking classes at Mars...
WEEREAD: The Midwife’s Tale Anna Cipoletti March 25, 2022 From the midwives and medicine women of yesteryear to today’s frontline healthcare workers, women have provided care and healing for as long as humankind has existed. In recognition of their contributions to he...
WEEREAD: Colored People: A Memoir Anna Cipoletti February 22, 2022 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a man known by multiple titles and accolades but is perhaps best known as a literary critic and who rediscovered early African-American novels and pushed for their inclusion in the Wes...
QUIZ: What West Virginia Book Are You? Anna Cipoletti December 22, 2021 Take this quiz to determine which WV-centric book is the right fit for you, your Secret Santa, or one of those hard-to-buy-for relatives.
WEEREAD: Watercolor in Nature by Rosalie Haizlett Anna Cipoletti December 14, 2021 Are you or someone you know a budding artist who loves the outdoors? Do you need a present or project for the holiday season? If so, we have just the title for you: Rosalie Haizlett’s Watercolor in Nature: Pain...
Quiz: What West Virginia-based Book Are You? (Halloween Edition) Anna Cipoletti October 22, 2021 Too many book recommendations and not enough time? Our helpful quiz can help you determine which spooky West Virginia book suits you best.
WEEREAD: Monsters in Appalachia Anna Cipoletti October 13, 2021 With compelling prose and an ear for Appalachian dialects, author Sheryl Monks’ Monsters in Appalachia chronicles monsters ranging from hellish beasts to everyday evils in this collection of fifteen short stori...
WEEREAD: Mountaineers are Always Free Anna Cipoletti June 18, 2021 On Sunday, June 20, West Virginia will celebrate the anniversary of its statehood. With its official motto “Montani Semper Liberi” (“Mountaineers are Always Free”), it’s little surprise that the Mountaineer was...
WEEREAD: Hippie Homesteaders Anna Cipoletti June 8, 2021 A writer and sculptor born in Huntington, Carter Taylor Seaton has long been a part of the arts and crafts movement in West Virginia. In 2016, Seaton was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the West Vir...
WEEREAD: Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother’s Day Anna Cipoletti May 8, 2021 On May 8, 1914, the United States Congress officially designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and the tradition is still holding strong. As of 2021, Mother’s Day will be celebrated by an estimated 8...
Bethany College Students Celebrate Earth Day with a Week of Activities Anna Cipoletti April 27, 2021 In celebration of Earth Week, Bethany College’s new “Greener Bethany” club hosted a week-long slate of environmental-related events from April 18-24. The club, established in the fall of 2020, worked with sever...
WEEREAD: Strange as This Weather Has Been Anna Cipoletti April 21, 2021 Told in alternating viewpoints by matriarch Lace Ricker See and her three eldest children, Ann Pancake’s debut novel Strange as This Weather Has Been is an urgent, poignant story about the environmental damages...
WEEREAD: 55 Strong Anna Cipoletti March 13, 2021 With written testimonials and spontaneous on-the-street interviews, 55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike is a deeply personal account of the circumstances that sparked the 2018 strike and its pr...
Genealogical Research – Newspapers, Military Records, and More! (Part 4) Anna Cipoletti March 1, 2021 Click here for part 1, part 2, or part 3. In this fourth and final installment of our genealogical research series, we are going to cover a few more assorted record types you can use to find your ancestors. ...
Genealogical Research – Using the U. S. Census (Part 3) Anna Cipoletti February 23, 2021 Click here for part 1 or part 2. In this installment of our genealogical research series, we are going to cover one of my favorite resources: the U.S. Census! The federal census has been conducted every ten ...
Genealogical Research – Finding Birth, Death, and Marriage Records (Part 2) Anna Cipoletti February 17, 2021 Click here for part 1. Vital records, including birth, death, and marriage certificates, are considered “the milestones of life and the backbone of genealogy.” As such, it makes sense to begin our genealogic...
Genealogical Research – Using Local Resources to Find Your Ancestors (Part 1) Anna Cipoletti February 6, 2021 Looking to dip your toe in genealogy but don’t know where to start? Weelunk is here to help! With a how-to approach that focuses on Wheeling-centric resources, this mini-series will walk you through the basic p...
WEEREAD: At Home in the Heart of Appalachia Anna Cipoletti January 25, 2021 A poignant memoir of family and place, At Home in the Heart of Appalachia’s opening chapter begins with author John O’Brien traveling for his father Jim’s funeral. A strained relationship with his father and hi...
New Deal Projects at Oglebay Park Anna Cipoletti January 20, 2021 As a staple institution in the Wheeling community, Oglebay Park serves as a place for entertainment, recreation, history, and celebration. While many people are familiar with the history of Earl W. Oglebay and ...
WEEREAD: Holiday Reading for Children Anna Cipoletti December 21, 2020 A Day for Skating by Sarah Sullivan Written in simple rhyming couplets with no more than two lines to a page, Sarah Sullivan’s A Day for Skating is perfect to share with children who are just learning to r...
WEEREAD: Shiner Anna Cipoletti December 2, 2020 In her stunning debut novel Shiner, Amy Jo Burns explores friendship and grief in the mountains of West Virginia. Teenaged Wren Bird and her family live an isolated and antiquated life in Randolph County, nearl...
WEEREAD: Who’s Telling Appalachia’s Story? Anna Cipoletti November 7, 2020 Since it's release in 2016, J.D. Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy has received both praise and criticism. Borne out of a need to respond to Hillbilly Elegy, Appalachian Reckoning and What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia tackle issues that have plagued the region long before Vance came on the scene. Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts on the role that they play in telling our story as Appalachians?
WEEREAD: The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales Anna Cipoletti October 31, 2020 Let’s face it: Halloween is going to look different this year. Maybe you’re forgoing your annual costume party or your visit to the Moundsville Penitentiary or changing up the way you do trick-or-treating. So h...
Recommended Reading: WV Books for Middle School and Young Adult Readers Anna Cipoletti October 13, 2020 As the kids settle into the new school year, check out these books to keep their minds active and explore the mountain state through reading. All of the books featured are either written by West Virginia author...
Recommended Reading: WV Books for Kids Anna Cipoletti October 6, 2020 As the kids settle into the new school year, check out these books to keep their minds active and explore the mountain state through reading. All of the books featured are either written by West Virginia author...
WEEREAD: Storming Heaven — A Novel of Resilience and Resistance in West Virginia Anna Cipoletti September 12, 2020 Spanning three decades, Denise Giardina’s novel Storming Heaven follows families in West Virginia and Kentucky as they navigate a transformed landscape. This work of historical fiction opens in 1890, “the year ...
WEEREAD: The Unquiet Grave Anna Cipoletti September 5, 2020 For many a West Virginian, the story of Zona Heaster Shue — better known as the Greenbrier Ghost — is a familiar one. The small details may differ, but the story usually goes something like this: in 1897, a rec...
WEEREAD: Voices on Unity — Coming Together, Falling Apart Anna Cipoletti August 29, 2020 In the anthology Voices on Unity: Coming Together, Falling Apart, editor Cat Pleska compiles the voices of 35 West Virginian authors to speak in poetry and prose on the topics of unity and separation. Though fe...
WEEREAD: Riding on Comets Anna Cipoletti July 18, 2020 In her memoir Riding on Comets, born-and-bred West Virginian Cat Pleska recalls coming of age in the 1950s and ‘60s in a story that, at its core, is about a family trying to stay together. At first look, Pleska...
