Colorful anthology cover for Understory by Loblolly Press, featuring artwork related to Hurricane Helene recovery.
Full-color anthology cover titled "Understory: A Full-Color Anthology for Hurricane Helene Recovery" by Loblolly Press.
Full-color anthology titled "Understory" by Loblolly Press, showcasing artwork and themes related to Hurricane Helene recovery.
Full-color anthology titled "Understory" by Loblolly Press, featuring artwork and stories related to Hurricane Helene recovery.

Understory: A Full-Color Anthology for Hurricane Helene Recovery

by Various Appalachian Writers, Poets, and Artists

EMPTY DOM REMOVE PROTECTOR

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina. Understory gathers 87 writers, poets, and artists — most of them from the mountains the storm hit — into a full-color, 189-page anthology of the work made in its wake. $1 from every print copy goes to Swannanoa Communities Together, which provides housing support, food access, and case management to families still recovering in the valley.

 
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$1 per print copy to Helene recovery
87 contributors · 189 full-color pages
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Reading about the storm? Pair it with Proud Roads — Kelly Riedesel’s collection from the same year, bundled for $38.

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Learn about the author and the book

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Western North Carolina in September 2024. Understory began weeks later as a digital anthology — a place to put what people were making while the roads were still out. The print edition gathers that work in full color: poems, prose, photographs, paintings, and drawings from 87 writers and artists, most of them living in the counties the storm hit hardest. It is a record of one season in one place, and of what people made rather than what they lost.

  • 87 contributors — emerging and established writers, poets, and artists, most rooted in Southern Appalachia.
  • Full color throughout — 189 pages, 6 x 9 inches, with artwork reproduced alongside the writing rather than collected in a separate insert.
  • $1 from every print copy goes directly to Swannanoa Communities Together, funding housing support, food access, and case management for families still recovering in the Swannanoa Valley.
  • First published as a digital anthology in November 2024; the full-color print edition followed in November 2025.
Swannanoa Communities Together began as mutual aid in the days after Hurricane Helene, when neighbors in the Swannanoa Valley realized the systems meant to catch people were not going to. It has since become an ongoing operation.

From a community hub on U.S. 70, the group provides food, shelter support, and case managers who walk people through FEMA paperwork, utility shut-offs, and housing searches. Refrigerators and cupboards are kept stocked. Spanish-language resources are available. Some days the work is rent assistance that stops an eviction; other days it is a ride to a job interview or a medical appointment.

“There’s such an extreme shortage of housing here,” founding member Beth Trigg has said. “There was before the storm, and there sure as heck is now.”

$1 from every print copy of Understory goes to that work.

Daniel Acocella . Emilie Apel . Rachel Armes . Chris Barton . Anna Lena Phillips Bell . Rebecca Bengal . Molly Bolton . Clint Bowman . Clifford Brooks . Dustin Brookshire . Myles Brown . Ethan Chandler . Andrew K. Clark . Julie Clarke . Rebecca Clay . Drew Coles . Michael Conner . Mackenzie Crosson . Mikaela Curry . Ethan Davis . Iris Delong . Dagny Deutchman . Emily Harper Ellis . Emma Ensley . Kristin Entler . Grace Ezra . Greg Feightner . Chris Fettes . Joe Fishleigh . Daniel Fitzpatrick . Teddy L. Friedline . Kate Furlong . Katy Goforth . Hillary Gonzalez . Beth Gordon . Cole Hancock . Rachel M. Hanson . Dylan Harbison . Maggie Rue Hess . Kincaid Jenkins . Jon-Delia Freeman . Candice Kelsey . Ray Kirkman . Stan Lake . Leah Lawson . Trinity Lisk . Andrew Mack . Ariadne Alexis Macquarie . Kathleen Madden . Wendy Maldonado . Rachel Marsom . Ali McGhee . Lindsey Mercene . Tammy Mercure . Katrina Mioduszewski . Iva Moore . Rebekah Morgan . Cecilia Moushey . Hali Mullins . Hudson Myracle . Tiffany Narron . Lucille Nelson . Caroline Rayner . Emma Redditt . Jamieson Ridenhour . Kelly Riedesel . Chris Robey . Tony Robles . Maddie Rollins . Haven Ross . Ivy Rozen . Elliot Salzberg . Amelia Schroeder . Noah Soltau . Sean Theodore Stewart . McKenzie Teter . Jamie Tews . Kelley Towe . Emry Trantham . Tanya Triber . Adam Tyson . Olivia Ward . Whitney Waters . Cheryl Whitehead . Kate Wiggeringloh . Earl J. Wilcox . Kate Wright

Praise

There is something sacred about shining a light on the artists and writers whose voices are shaped by our shared soil. Loblolly Press and Understory are more than the creative expression we share with the world — they are a way to nurture what often goes unseen and ensure it has room to grow.
— Andrew Mack, Managing Editor, Loblolly Press

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