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WORK TITLE: F*CKFACE
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WEBSITE: https://leahkhampton.com/
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COUNTRY: United States
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PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Graduated from Michener Center for Writers.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, Stadler Center for Poetry Winter 2020 Philip Roth Resident, 2020.
AWARDS:Keene Prize for Literature, University of Texas–Austin; James Hurst Prize for Fiction; Doris Betts Prize.
WRITINGS
Contributor to journals and periodicals, such as storySouth, Appalachian Heritage, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, the Los Angeles Times, Ecotone, Electric Literature, and North Carolina Literary Review.
SIDELIGHTS
Leah Hampton is an award-winning writer who frequently covers topics relating to Appalachia, ecoanxiety, corpses, and intelligent women. She has participated at numerous writing residencies, including at Hedgebrook, the Adirondack Center for Writing, Wildacres, the Vermont Studio Center, and as the Winter 2020 Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University’s Stadler Center for Poetry. Hampton has contributed stories to a number of journals and periodicals, such as storySouth, Appalachian Heritage, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, the Los Angeles Times, Ecotone, Electric Literature, and North Carolina Literary Review.
In an interview in Bennington Review, Hampton talked about her involvement with Bat City as its editor-in-chief. She discussed with Maddie Pasquale what aspect of her role with the magazine about which she was most passionate. Hampton admitted: “What our whole editorial board cares about most is treating writers well and promoting their work. We read every submission carefully, and we are always on the lookout for new and emerging voices. I took this task very seriously as editor-in-chief.” Overall, Hampton confessed that “it’s definitely worth it, and we’re always proud of our efforts when the issue comes out.”
Hampton published her first book, F*ckface: And Other Stories, in 2020. The short story collection compiles twelve stories that mix tragedy and comedy while exploring the interdependence between the rural environment and its inhabitants. Largely set in and around Appalachia, the stories cover a range of themes, including the dark side of working as a park ranger, reflecting on past choices affecting one’s health, and imagining a fantasy life while on a trip to Dollywood.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called it an “impressive debut collection.” The reviewer noted that Hampton writes “with cleareyed honesty, humor, and compassion,” particularly in avoiding regional stereotypes or romanticizing Lee Smith’s story. The same Lee Smith contributor concluded by calling F*ckface “a marvelous introduction to a fresh Southern voice.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2020, review of F*ckface: And Other Stories.
ONLINE
Bennington Review, http://www.benningtonreview.org/ (March 22, 2019), Maddie Pasquale, author interview.
Leah Hampton writes about Appalachia, corpses, ecoanxiety, and smart women. Her debut collection, F*ckface and Other Stories, will be released by Henry Holt in July 2020. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, she has been awarded UT-Austin’s Keene Prize for Literature, the James Hurst Prize for Fiction, and the Doris Betts Prize, and held residencies at Hedgebrook, the Adirondack Center for Writing, Wildacres, the Vermont Studio Center, and elsewhere. She is currently the Stadler Center for Poetry’s Winter 2020 Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Leah Hampton is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers and the winner of the University of Texas’s Keene Prize for Literature, as well as North Carolina’s James Hurst and Doris Betts prizes. Her work has appeared in storySouth, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Appalachian Heritage, North Carolina Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times, Ecotone, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. A former college instructor, Hampton lives in and writes about the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Bat City Review Editor-in-Chief LEAH HAMPTON
in conversation with Maddie Pasquale
via email in Spring 2019
MADDIE PASQUALE
What aspect of your job as editor-in-chief at Bat City were you most passionate about? What was most challenging?
LEAH HAMPTON
What our whole editorial board cares about most is treating writers well and promoting their work. We read every submission carefully, and we are always on the lookout for new and emerging voices. I took this task very seriously as editor-in-chief, as did our whole team. As is often the case with big goals, the thing you care most about is often the most challenging aspect of your job. Making sure we thoroughly read thousands of submissions, handling rejections ethically (and kindly), and working closely with the writers we published so their work looked as good as possible on the page—all of this care and passion is incredibly challenging. But it’s definitely worth it, and we’re always proud of our efforts when the issue comes out.
MADDIE PASQUALE
Can you think of a particular piece that you fought to make sure was in the magazine?
LEAH HAMPTON
I'm very lucky that the Bat City editorial team doesn’t “fight.” Some journals have confrontational board meetings, but we never have. If one editor feels really passionately about a particular piece, the group usually defers to that person’s expertise and agrees to publish it. Similarly, if I feel great about a submission, but the rest of the team is not impressed by it, I make sure to listen to the collective voice of my colleagues, because they’re often right. So, in general, we make decisions together and trust each other. That said, there are a few pieces in our current issue that I’m particularly fond of, such as the poem “Ah Bing Speaks to the Cherry Orchard” and the essay by Lee Anne Gallaway-Mitchell. Both pieces had a lot of support from our whole team.
MADDIE PASQUALE
What type of experience have you had that best prepared you to hold your position at Bat City Review?
LEAH HAMPTON
I was fairly new to literary journals when I was offered the fiction editor position a couple of years ago. I had to learn a lot from scratch. I found the editor-in-chief position easier because I had some managerial experience, and by the time I moved into that role, I knew a lot about the inner workings of Bat City. Anyone who has had jobs where they had to meet deadlines and stay VERY organized is probably going to be useful to a literary journal. My previous career as an English instructor and a technical writer also helped, especially when it came time to check final proofs for errors.
MADDIE PASQUALE
What is your fondest memory of working with Bat City?
LEAH HAMPTON
The people. I made so many friends—fellow editors at other journals, writers whose work I love, and of course my fellow BCR editors. Working for a good literary journal helps you network and become a good literary citizen.
MADDIE PASQUALE
Is there anything you would like to share about your upcoming book?
LEAH HAMPTON
Thanks for asking! My first book will be released in 2020 by Henry Holt, and it’s a short story collection about corpses, Appalachia, environmental crises, and smart women. I have a wonderful editor, and the whole process is very exciting. The title is still being finalized at the moment, but it’ll definitely be an attention grabber.
MADDIE PASQUALE received her BA in literature from Bennington College in 2019.
LEAH HAMPTON was the recent editor-in-chief of Bat City Review at the time of this interview (Spring 2019). Her short story collection, F*ckface, is forthcoming in May 2020 from Henry Holt.
Hampton, Leah F*CKFACE Henry Holt (Fiction None) $25.99 5, 19 ISBN: 978-1-250-25959-2
The complexities of life in a changing Appalachia link the 12 stories in Hampton’s impressive debut collection.
In the title story, a closeted grocery store cashier named Pretty is stuck in her small-minded mountain town. “This place is a long way from Asheville—eighty miles, and a lot of churches in between.” Her only support is friend and co-worker Jamie, who “didn’t care that [she] liked girls.” But when Jamie quits her job to move to Asheville with her boyfriend, a devastated Pretty finds an unexpected new ally. In the brutally painful “Devil,” Tech. Sgt. Boggs had enlisted in the military to escape his Cumberland, Kentucky, home, but he discovers the past is never really past when he reluctantly spends the night with his fundamentalist parents before shipping out to Afghanistan. As Carolyn and Frank, the twin protagonists of the poignant “Frogs,” embark on an evening nature walk at a mountaintop research station run by a local university, Carolyn plaintively asks her brother, “Are we rednecks?” Without the right clothes or equipment for the hike, the siblings stand out as locals, and Carolyn is further humiliated by the naturalist guide’s condescension. “He’s not even from here,” she angrily notes. The demeaning attitude of outsiders toward Appalachian people is highlighted even more notably in the dazzling “Sparkle” when a visit to Dollywood shatters a woman’s romantic illusions about her husband’s scientific research partner. In writing about an often misunderstood region, Hampton could easily have succumbed to the romanticism of Lee Smith or the negative stereotypes of J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, but she avoids these tendencies with cleareyed honesty, humor, and compassion.
A marvelous introduction to a fresh Southern voice.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Hampton, Leah: F*CKFACE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2020, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617193017/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4360d976. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.