The Barnhill Prize honors Anne Clinard Barnhill’s generous spirit of support for all who love to read and write; her lifelong empathy with those who mine their childhood experience to understand themselves now; the natural vulnerability in her compelling prose and poetry; and her boundless generosity in sharing her writing passions with the world.

We are thrilled to announce that Neema Avashia will award the 2023 Anne C. Barnhill Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Personal note from EDG: Neema and I share growing up in the Kanawha Valley, West Virginia. We didn’t know each other then, but I remember hearing her name. My family knew an Indian family in our area, and from elementary school through high school, my sister and I grew up with friendships that linked us to “another Appalachia.” When Neema sent us her essay, A Hindu Hillbilly Elegy