Edited Collection Dark Skies Appalachia

Proposal Deadline: 20 October 2025

Estimated Publication Date: 2027

Call for Papers: Dark Skies Appalachia

We invite proposals for contributions to Dark Skies Appalachia, a multidisciplinary collection which will explore the influence of a dark night sky on identity, culture, and sense of place in the Appalachian region, as well as the ecological and human impacts of light pollution and efforts to protect dark skies in and beyond the region. 

In 2023, a citizen science-based study of sky brightnesses based on over 50,000 observations revealed that light pollution is increasing at a rate of 10% per year and doubling every eight years. Not only are polluted urban environments becoming much brighter, the extent of the polluted skies is reaching farther away from cities into suburban and rural areas, threatening the darkness and starry skies many have come to identify with rural places. By dimming the sparkle of distant suns and obscuring the faint glow of the Milky Way, artificial light is abruptly and fundamentally altering one of humanity’s first and most intimate relationships with the natural world. In the United States, rural Appalachia is one of the few places east of the Mississippi to retain dark, unpolluted skies where residents may still look up at night and see the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon (or mountaintop to mountaintop). How has a dark night and starry sky been part of Appalachian identity, culture, and sense of place?

Submissions are encouraged from scholars and practitioners considering the sky from various perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds. Contributions may take a range of forms, including art/photography, artist’s talks, songwriting, creative writing, or engagingly presented  scholarly research from history to sociology to cultural criticism to the sciences (see list of possible topics below). Please note that while works with the regional connection are preferred, topical submissions lacking the regional focus are also welcome. Proposals are requested by October 20, 2025, for completed essays/contributions due July 31, 2026.

We welcome proposals of up to 500 words accompanied by a brief biography to be submitted using this Google Form <https://forms.gle/gy9hokDGJtJb6Jec8>  by 20 October 2025. Should that method not work, please send via email to Jeff Bary (jbary [at] colgate.edu), Anna Creadick (creadick [at] hws.edu), or Elijah Prewitt-Davis (elijah.prewitt-davis [at] msj.edu. Decisions will be made by 20 November 2025. The projected deadline for completed essays [5,000-7,000 words] and other contributions will be 31 July 2026. Queries may be directed to Jeff Bary via email. Multiple presses have expressed enthusiastic interest in publishing this collection.

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Possible topics:

Human Health and Environmental Considerations

• Explorations of awe and neurophysiological experiences of dark night skies

• Ecocriticism on darkness as a disappearing/unprotected resource

• Scientific research on the human and non-human impacts of light pollution in or beyond the region (e.g., fireflies, pollinators, livestock, etc.)

• Appalachian geology and earth-sky connections, deep time 

Social, Historical, and  Cultural Issues

• Historical or sociological investigations of lightness/darkness in the Appalachian anthropocene, for example – rural electrification, extractive industry, coal culture/labor, or out-migration and urban Appalachian sense of place

• Religious and spiritual connections to the night sky

• Indigenous cosmologies and dark sky temporalities

Critical Literary or Cultural  Analysis

• Literary criticism on nightscapes, dark skies, and sense of place in works from the region

• Critical analysis of music, dance, and sound that engage with dark skies in the region.

• Analysis of film, photography, or other cultural or media representations that connect with the night sky 

Creative Works

• Visual art, photography, and astrophotography

• Songwriting and composition 

• Creative nonfiction on the night sky’s relationship to sense of place in Appalachia

Dark Sky Preservation

• Political or public policy papers on dark skies activism, policy, or preservation efforts, including organizing, lobbying, outreach

• Descriptions of public-facing programming for national parks or other institutions, including informal/DIY dark skies activism and resources

• Maps, materials, travelogues on dark sky parks, star gazing, star parties, amateur astronomy in Appalachia

• Pedagogical research on teaching earth/sky connection in the region

• Planetary approaches to Appalachian studies, or Appalachian approaches to astronomical studies