Steven Harvey, who perpetrated Slowhand Banjo on the world, is the author of Bound for Shady Grove, a collection of personal essays about his attempt to deepen his understanding of his adopted culture in the north Georgia mountains by learning to play clawhammer banjo and The Bard’s Banjo, English country tunes arranged for the clawhammer banjo published by Mel Bay. Since the mid-90’s he has played banjo, guitar, and ukulele with Butternut Creek and Friends, a popular folk group in the Georgia mountains, and for many years wrote the “Banjos at the Border” column for Banjo Newsletter. 

 

He has a well-established reputation as a writer of creative nonfiction.  He is the author of The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about the suicide of his mother when he was eleven and two other books of personal essays:  A Geometry of Lilies, his first book about family life, which was twice honored as a finalist in the Associated Writing Program’s nonfiction contest and Lost in Translation, about his experiences as a father and teacher.

 

He received his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Virginia and is an emeritus professor of English at Young Harris College as well as a member of the faculty in the Ashland University MFA program in Creative Writing.  He serves as a Senior Editor at River Teeth magazine and is the author of the popular blog about writing called The Humble Essayist.  You can follow him on twitter @THEsharvey and learn more about him at his website:  www.steven-harvey-author.com.