Author To Read Works At VMI

McLaughlin’s Novels Set In Appalachia, American West

Virginia Military Institute welcomes James A. McLaughlin, acc l a i me d author of “ B e a r skin” and “Panther Gap,” for a reading of his work, Tuesday, March 19, at 7:45 p.m. in Gillis Theater.

“Bearskin,” which is set in a remote forest preserve in Virginian Appalachia, was published by Ecco/HarperCollins in 2018, and winner of the 2019 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It appeared earlier in The Missouri Review and won the 2009 William Peden Prize in fiction.

McLaughlin’s more recent novel, “Panther Gap,” set in the rugged American West, was published by Flatiron/ Macmillan in 2023, and was chosen as an Apple Books Best Book of the Month, and an Amazon Editor’s Pick.

His essays and fiction have appeared in River Teeth, Camas, Portland Review, Clackamas Literary Review, and elsewhere. His essay “¡No Pasaran! Rage and ORVs” was chosen as a Notable Essay of 2003 in The Best American Essays, 2004.

McLaughlin grew up in the mountains of Virginia, but now lives in the mountains east of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The event is sponsored by the Dean’s Academic Speakers Program, and the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies.