Western Carolina University faculty member and writer Ron Rash is putting the final touches on his new novel even as he is honored for the contributions he has made to Southern literature through his previous novels, short stories and poems.

Rash, who serves as WCU’s Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Culture, is currently making last revisions to The Cove, which is scheduled for release next April. Set in Western North Carolina during World War I, the novel tells the story of a mountain woman who comes upon a mysterious stranger in the woods whom she saves from a near-fatal accident.

As Rash gets The Cove ready for publication, he also is working on a new book of short stories. He has about one-third of the stories written, and one of them, “The Trusty,” was recently published in The New Yorker magazine, along with an interview with Rash.

Rash is the author of seven books of fiction set in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (including the best-selling novel Serena) and three books of poetry. A native of Boiling Springs who was raised there and in Chester, S.C., he teaches Appalachian literature and creative writing at WCU.