Writer of Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry and Master Photographer
“Apparently, as a tomato farmer, I peaked in my teen years.” That’s how I start a humbling tale of farm failure. I have a piece I’ve written about growing tomatoes and how important they were in my family’s garden growing up. The story is also about my struggles in recent years to get good tomato…
At last, at last. I’ve been waiting anxiously to share the cover design for Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate since the fine folks at the University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books sent it to me over a month ago. I’m thrilled with how they included the book’s main character, Nash County native Wright…
Orwell is one of my favorite writers. He led a short, but fascinating life, and was quite a complex character. I’d never read the story about his escape from Spain, or that the Communists there had him on a hit list. This is a good read:
My wife Kristi grew up in the mountains of Virginia, not far from Culpeper. When we go to visit, we always go by this odd place stuck in the side of a mountain. It was the place where the government at one time stashed a few billion dollars and it was set up to be…
By Michael K. Brantley There are several North Carolina Humanities Council programs coming to the area during the second half of 2019 and I’m proud to be a part of two of the sessions. On August 27 at 5:30 p.m., I’ll be presenting a program about Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who…
By Michael K. Brantley I’ve been focused on nonfiction for the last several years — some would argue 45 — but I have a new piece of fiction up at The Broadkill Review, a fine literary online literary journal. There is kind of a catch, of course. This short story is based on a true…
Michael K. Brantley has been awarded an Archie K. Davis Fellowship for 2019-20 to help fund research on his latest book project about an overlooked eastern North Carolina historical figure from the 19th Century. Brantley’s second book is due out next spring from the University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books. Galvanized: The Odyssey of a…
What’s known as Nash County today began as part of Albemarle County in 1670. Later, it became known as Chowan, and Bertie was formed out of Chowan in 1722. Edgecombe was sliced off of Bertie in 1741. In 1777, Nash was formed out of Edgecombe. There were six townships in the county that haven’t been…
This originally appeared in The Nashville Graphic By Michael K. Brantley Look, I don’t care what you call it. You can tell me about Gregorians and and equinoxes and solstices, or whatever you want, but when the temperature hits 90 with regularity, it is summer. If it makes you feel better to…
By Michael K. Brantley There are many various stories about an Indian trading path that ran through the heart of Eastern North Carolina in the early 1700s. It is sometimes referred to as the Green Path or Green’s Path. Historians not only seem unable to agree on its exact location, but even disagree on the…