RON HOUCHIN was born in San Diego, California and raised from three years old in Huntington, West Virginia, where his family of coal miners, factory workers, and farmers have always lived. For thirty years he taught composition and literature in a secondary school in southernmost Ohio. He has nine published books, one of short stories and eight of poetry. In addition to Paterson Prize and Pushcart nominations, his work has received an Appalachian award for Book-of-the-Year in poetry and the 2013 Weatherford Award for poetry. His poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Stinging Fly, the Southwest Review, Poetry Northwest, Poetry Ireland Review, The Galway Review, the Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Devilfish Review, Acorn, Sow's Ear, Five Points, STILL: The Journal, and others. He lives on the Ohio River, across from Huntington, WV, in a haunted house near a former hideout of the Underground Railroad. His first book, Death and the River, was published by Salmon in 1997.
