Jr. John Fox

Born in Kentucky in 1862 and educated at Harvard, he first worked as a journalist before building a literary career from fiction and short stories. He became closely associated with Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and much of his writing drew on the people, landscapes, and conflicts of the Appalachian region.

He is best remembered for novels such as The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, books that were major successes in their day and helped make him one of the best-known popular writers of his era. His work often blended regional detail with dramatic plots, which gave many readers their first imaginative picture of life in the mountains.

He died in 1919. Although his style belongs strongly to its time, he remains an important figure in American regional fiction and in the literary history of Kentucky and southwestern Virginia.