Author Biography
Valerie Nieman is the author of five novels: In the Lonely Backwater, a YA/crossover thriller in the Southern gothic tradition, launched this spring from Regal House/Fitzroy Books.
An audiobook version is out for To the Bones, a cross-genre mystery first published in 2019. Kirkus says: “Evocative, intelligent prose conjures an anxious mood and strong sense of place while spotlighting the societal and environmental devastation wrought by the coal mining industry.”
Other novels are Blood Clay, a novel of the New South, which was honored with the Eric Hoffer Prize in General Fiction; Survivors, a novel about the Rust Belt of the 1970s, and her first book, Neena Gathering, reissued in 2012 as a classic in the post-apocalyptic genre.
Nieman’s third poetry collection, Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse, debuted with a reading at the Coney Island Museum and was a runner-up for the Brockman-Campbell Book Prize. Her second poetry collection, Hotel Worthy, appeared in 2015 from Press 53, and poems from that book were nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best Short Fictions of 2016, where the title poem was a finalist. She is also the author of Wake Wake Wake, and a collection of short stories, Fidelities.
She was a 2013-2014 North Carolina Arts Council poetry fellow, and has received an NEA creative writing fellowship as well as major grants in West Virginia and Kentucky. Her awards include the Greg Grummer, Nazim Hikmet, and Byron Herbert Reece poetry prizes.
Nieman graduated from West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte. A former professor and journalist, she now teaches creative writing at conferences and venues such as the John C. Campbell Folk School.
When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
I began writing almost as soon as I could make letters. I even had a pen name, insisting my name was actually “Avig” and inscribing that in all my books.
How did you come up with the idea for In the Lonely Backwater?
I had been making notes toward a novel about a young woman wandering the woods, but without much sense of a plot.
Also, I was keeping journals while I was sailing.
Then I found an inscription in my senior yearbook, “I hope all our misunderstandings are cleared up,” and signed “Love.”
I don’t know why I had an argument with that girl, but it started me thinking about high school friendships and enmities.
Everything came together, Maggie started talking, and I was on my way.
Did you have a specific writing routine/process for this book? How has that process changed since you started writing?
I tend to have a very general outline of where the book is headed, but not at all detailed.
I knew that a body would be found at the beginning, and a solution to the mystery would be found by the end, though I didn’t yet know how that would transpire.
What part of your background was most influential in writing this story?
Probably my career in journalism. I was a small-town newspaper reporter covering the police beat, the coal industry, environmental issues, and whatever else had to be addressed that day.
While those elements were all in my previous novel, I found that In the Lonely Backwater really summoned my memories of working with detectives.
My education as a journalist also prepared me to write concisely and focus on the story.
You published with Regal House Publishing. What was it about that publisher that made you want to sign with them? Do you have any advice on what writers should look for in a publisher?
Regal House is a small press, but mighty! What I love about RH is the close working relationship with the publisher Jaynie Royal, my editor Pam Van Dyk, designers and cover artists and copy editors—all wonderful!
They have a genuine passion for good writing and they support their authors in person and on social media. Regal House was named the best small press for 2022 by Forewords Reviews.
Writers have so many options now, from self-publishing to the Big Five. I think you must have a good sense of where your book belongs on that spectrum. Some self-published books can be effectively promoted.
Some books have the commercial elements to make it in “the Bigs.” And quirky books (and writers) often find that a small or academic press is the best fit. Talk with writers about their experiences. Look for publishers who are responsive, well-organized, and work to develop a sense of community among their authors.
So now that In the Lonely Backwater is out, what are you working on? Do you have another story in the works?
I’m working on the sequel to To the Bones. That genre-bending novel featured an unlikely alliance against predatory coal barons in Appalachia.
The evil is vanquished—almost—but a troubled heir to the Kavanaghs’ preternatural powers will take the next chapter to Ireland.
What book(s) are you reading at the moment?
Two from Regal House: Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s Loving the Dead and Gone and Culley Holderfield’s debut novel Hemlock Hollow, as well as All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss and poetry books open all over the house.
What book(s) most inspired you to write?
So many, but I’ll pick one: The Last Great Auk by Allan W. Eckert. Why that? My sixth-grade teacher, Ervin Milks, somehow finagled him into coming to our classroom.
That was the first time this book lover realized that authors were not all dead and dusty, that you could actually write books yourself.
What do you hope people take away from reading your books?
I hope they find my books entertaining, and informative on some level, but especially that they delight in language and storytelling as much as I do in the creation.
