Rita Quillen

Wayland by Rita Sims Quillen

Set in southwestern Virginia in 1930, Wayland is the story of a perfect life interrupted by a chance encounter with pure evil. Eva and Andrew Nettles are a couple who found each other in the unlikeliest of circumstances and married in midlife, now living a blissful country life with their adopted daughter--until one day a hobo happens by. Buddy Newman cannot believe his good fortune: this family has everything he needs, including the most beautiful little girl he's ever seen or dreamed of. Newman sets his plan in motion to charm and deceive the family and possess the object of his desires. Can they see through his elaborate deceit in time to save their daughter?

“In Wayland Rita Quillen writes of a Depression-era Appalachian community with immense vividness and immense empathy, but like the best novelists, her characters transcend their geographical locale to evoke concerns that touch upon the lives of all people. Whether as poet or as novelist, Quillen is a writer to be revered.” —-RON RASH, author of SERENA

Hiding Ezra by Rita Sims Quillen

Set during WWI in southwest VA, HIDING EZRA is the story of a simple farmer, Ezra Teague, who is forced to choose between fighting for his country and taking care of his family. Like more than 175,000 other young men, Ezra chose his family--not because he was a coward or a pacifist, but because he was practical and because he felt his Christian faith called him to do so.

HIDING EZRA is also a love story, as we see the girl of his dreams, Alma Newton, try to figure out how to extricate Ezra from his predicament. Finally, HIDING EZRA is the story of an adventure, a quest, and a chase as the authorities--including local boy Lieutenant Andrew Nettles--try to bring Ezra to military justice.

HIDING EZRA was a finalist in the 2005 DANA Awards competition, and a chapter of the novel is included in the new scholarly study of Appalachian dialect just published by the University of Kentucky Press entitled TALKING APPALACHIAN.

Rita Quillen’s novel Hiding Ezra was published in 2014 from Little Creek Books; it was a finalist in the 2005 DANA Awards competition, and a chapter of the novel is included in the new scholarly study of Appalachian dialect just published by the University of Kentucky Press entitled Talking Appalachian. Her poetry chapbook, Something Solid To Anchor To, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. Her new full-length poetry collection, THE MAD FARMER'S WIFE, was published in the fall of 2016 from Texas Review Press, and was a finalist for the prestigious WEATHERFORD AWARD INAPPALACHIAN LITERATURE from Berea College.

One of six semi-finalists for the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Virginia, her poetry received three Pushcart nominations as well as a Best of the Net nomination. Her collection Her Secret Dream, new and selected poems, is from Wind Press in Kentucky and was named the Outstanding Poetry Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association in 2008. Previous works are poetry collections October Dusk and Counting The Sums, as well as a book of essays Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry.

Rita is also a musician, playing guitar, mandolin, piano, dulcimer, autoharp, bass, and bodhran, and she has recently began writing songs. She won first place in the 2015 Gathering in the Gap Songwriting Contest and was also a finalist in the Richard Leigh Songwriting Competition that same year. She has performed at many venues in the region as part of various groups or as a singer/songwriter. She lives and farms on Early Autumn Farm in Scott County, Virginia.