Appalachian visiting creative writing professor authors debut ‘history-rich’ novel

View larger image — “Treeborne” is the first novel by Caleb Johnson. Johnson will serve a three-year term as visiting assistant professor of creative writing in Appalachian’s Department of English beginning in fall 2018. Macmillan Publishers image

“Caleb Johnson is a brilliant and important new voice in American literature. … We are incredibly lucky to have him at Appalachian.”

Mark Powell, assistant professor of creative writing

An excerpt from ‘Treeborne’

Janie turned her head to better see the young man, gazing as if she’d only then recalled he was in the room. Blinded on one side most of her life, the damaged eye looked like the inside of a grape. The young man was growing used to it, though when Janie leaned forward and clasped his hand he startled.

“There ain’t a thing I’d trade,’ she said. ‘They tried and they tried and they tried to get me to. Some of our own kin, the government, Authority, different buddies over the years—Jon D. Crews among them. Says he’s through begging me. Ain’t heard from him in, I reckon, more than a month. Wouldn’t trade calling this land home not even to get my eye back. Shit fire, you could say, Janie, we come up with a way to stop all that lakewater from spilling down into the valley, The Peach Pit can stay open for all eternity, but you got to move off from here. No sir. Me and this place—and I don’t just mean what you can look out yonder and lay eyes upon—me and this place is just too tangled up. But I reckon you know that, don’t you, coming up here with a tape recorder to get a old buzzard’s stories.”

By Jessica Stump

Posted Aug. 16, 2018 at 10:10 a.m.

BOONE, N.C. — The Department of English in Appalachian State University’s College of Arts and Sciences announces Caleb Johnson as its visiting assistant professor of creative writing. Beginning this fall, Johnson will serve a three-year term at Appalachian, teaching courses in fiction and nonfiction, as well as composition and the Rachel Rivers Coffey Colloquium in Creative Writing.

His debut novel, “Treeborne,” was released June 5 by Macmillan Publishers. The novel, set in the town of Elberta, Alabama, tells the story of its fictional characters through the lens of Janie Treeborne, who lives on and is the caretaker of an orchard situated at the town’s edge.

“Caleb Johnson is a brilliant and important new voice in American literature. … We are incredibly lucky to have him at Appalachian.”

Mark Powell, assistant professor of creative writing

“Caleb Johnson is a brilliant and important new voice in American literature. His novel ‘Treeborne’ comes out of a long lineage of magical realism, but is, at the same time, something entirely new. We are incredibly lucky to have him at Appalachian,” said Mark Powell, assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of English.

In its description of the novel, the Macmillan Publishers website states: “A place where conquistadors once walked, and where the peaches they left behind now grow, Elberta has seen fierce battles, violent storms, and frantic change—and when the town is once again threatened from without, Janie realizes it won’t withstand much more. So she tells the story of its people … As the world closes in on Elberta, Caleb Johnson’s debut novel lifts the veil and offers one last glimpse. ‘Treeborne’ is a celebration and a reminder: of how the past gets mixed up in thoughts of the future; of how home is a story as much as a place.”

Alyson Hagy, author of the novel “Boleto,” said, “Every now and again a powerful new voice bursts into song and begins to sing stories we can’t do without. Caleb Johnson’s is such a voice. The characters and desires of ‘Treeborne’ will wrap themselves around you tighter than any wild vine. And the setting of Elberta, Alabama, will call out to you like a long-lost home. This novel is a gripping, entrancing debut by one whirlwind of a writer.”

Additionally, of Johnson’s novel, Laird Hunt, author of “Neverhome,” wrote, “What a marvel of a novel this is. (The novel’s) sentences are taut, its situations engrossing, its characters absolutely and indelibly engaging. Caleb Johnson’s debut is a deep-dig, history-rich, story-soaked beauty.”

“Treeborne” is available from the publisher in hardback, audiobook and e-book formats, and is sold by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and others. This fall, the book will be offered by Appalachian’s Belk Library and Information Commons and will be available for purchase from the University Bookstore.

Treeborne

By Caleb Johnson
2018

Janie Treeborne lives on an orchard at the edge of Elberta, Alabama, and in time, she has become its keeper. A place where conquistadors once walked, and where the peaches they left behind now grow, Elberta has seen fierce battles, violent storms, and frantic change—and when the town is once again threatened from without, Janie realizes it won’t withstand much more. So she tells the story of its people: of Hugh, her granddaddy, determined to preserve Elberta’s legacy at any cost; of his wife, Maybelle, the postmaster, whose sudden death throws the town into chaos; of her lover, Lee Malone, a black orchardist harvesting from a land where he is less than welcome; of the time when Janie kidnapped her own Hollywood-obsessed aunt and tore the wrong people apart.

As the world closes in on Elberta, Caleb Johnson’s debut novel lifts the veil and offers one last glimpse. Treeborne is a celebration and a reminder: of how the past gets mixed up in thoughts of the future; of how home is a story as much as a place.

Available from Macmillan

About Caleb Johnson

Johnson grew up in the rural community of Arley, Alabama, and graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He was awarded a Jentel Writing Residency after he received his MFA from the University of Wyoming, and also received a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in fiction to the Sewanee Writers' Conference.

In addition to “Treeborne,” Johnson is the author of several works of nonfiction, including the essays “When Your Childhood Memories Get Privatized” (Literary Hub, June 2018) and “Gabriel García Márquez’s Road Trip Through Alabama,” (The Paris Review Daily, February 2018).

He has worked as a small-town newspaper reporter, an early morning janitor, a whole-animal butcher and an arts administrator, among other jobs. Currently, he lives in Philadelphia, where he teaches at a middle school for at-risk students while working on his next novel. He will join the faculty of Appalachian’s Department of English this fall as its visiting assistant professor of creative writing.

An excerpt from ‘Treeborne’

Janie turned her head to better see the young man, gazing as if she’d only then recalled he was in the room. Blinded on one side most of her life, the damaged eye looked like the inside of a grape. The young man was growing used to it, though when Janie leaned forward and clasped his hand he startled.

“There ain’t a thing I’d trade,’ she said. ‘They tried and they tried and they tried to get me to. Some of our own kin, the government, Authority, different buddies over the years—Jon D. Crews among them. Says he’s through begging me. Ain’t heard from him in, I reckon, more than a month. Wouldn’t trade calling this land home not even to get my eye back. Shit fire, you could say, Janie, we come up with a way to stop all that lakewater from spilling down into the valley, The Peach Pit can stay open for all eternity, but you got to move off from here. No sir. Me and this place—and I don’t just mean what you can look out yonder and lay eyes upon—me and this place is just too tangled up. But I reckon you know that, don’t you, coming up here with a tape recorder to get a old buzzard’s stories.”

Caleb Johnson

Caleb Johnson, a native of Arley, Alabama, is the author of "Treeborne" —his debut novel from Macmillian Publishers. He has also authored several works of nonfiction on subjects ranging from sports in the South to Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez.

Johnson, who studied journalism at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and earned an MFA from the University of Wyoming, is currently working on his next novel and will serve as visiting assistant professor of creative writing at Appalachian from 2018–21.

Visit Caleb Johnson’s website

About the Department of English

The Department of English at Appalachian State University is committed to outstanding work in the classroom, the support and mentorship of students, and a dynamic engagement with culture, history, language, theory and literature. The department offers master’s degrees in English and rhetoric and composition, as well as undergraduate degrees in literary studies, film studies, creative writing, professional writing and English education. Learn more at https://english.appstate.edu.

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is home to 16 academic departments, one stand-alone academic program, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. The College of Arts and Sciences aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and unique location. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. There are approximately 6,100 student majors in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing Appalachian's general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at https://cas.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the state of North Carolina, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls more than 20,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.

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An excerpt from ‘Treeborne’

Janie turned her head to better see the young man, gazing as if she’d only then recalled he was in the room. Blinded on one side most of her life, the damaged eye looked like the inside of a grape. The young man was growing used to it, though when Janie leaned forward and clasped his hand he startled.

“There ain’t a thing I’d trade,’ she said. ‘They tried and they tried and they tried to get me to. Some of our own kin, the government, Authority, different buddies over the years—Jon D. Crews among them. Says he’s through begging me. Ain’t heard from him in, I reckon, more than a month. Wouldn’t trade calling this land home not even to get my eye back. Shit fire, you could say, Janie, we come up with a way to stop all that lakewater from spilling down into the valley, The Peach Pit can stay open for all eternity, but you got to move off from here. No sir. Me and this place—and I don’t just mean what you can look out yonder and lay eyes upon—me and this place is just too tangled up. But I reckon you know that, don’t you, coming up here with a tape recorder to get a old buzzard’s stories.”