Anchored

Anchored, by Katy Goforth

In this debut hybrid collection, a comforting voice winds through a web of memory. Part fiction, part memoir, Anchored gathers a chorus of Southern neighbors from pockets of rural America. Throughout these stories of potlucks, heartbreaks, and family bonds, Katy Goforth weaves an enchanted thread that reminds us how the people who shape us continue to share in the things that keep us home.

Katy Goforth is a writer and editor for a national engineering and surveying organization in Greenville, South Carolina. Her writing has appeared in Brevity, Reckon Review, Cowboy Jamboree, Salvation South, and other journals. She is Best American Short Stories- and Best Small Fictions-nominated. Anchored is her first book. Her novel, Traveling Alone, is forthcoming. She was born and raised in South Carolina and lives with her spouse and two pups, Finn and Betty Anne. Learn more at katygoforth.com.

Praise for Anchored

“Katy Goforth’s voice in Anchored is so authentic and sensual, and her characters so well told you can smell them, that her stories will take you back to a memory you never had. But you’d swear you lived it. In other words, Anchored does exactly what good storytelling should do. Goforth’s collection is an achievement.”

—Adam Van Winkle, author of Dylan Quick is a Dairy Queen Don Quixote and Editor-in-Chief of Cowboy Jamboree Press

“Katy Goforth’s debut hybrid collection is anchored by memorable touchpoints: pop culture, rural America, family, friends, growing up, fitting in, ghosts, and grief. From harvest-gold carpet and Corelle Butterfly Gold dishes to Sweet Valley High Books and Dr Pepper Lip Smackers, the stories are identifiable, spunky, and vulnerable. Whether her characters are drinking from Styrofoam political cups or eating potluck meals together, Goforth’s endearing voice invites us to be her neighbor too. Her collection anchors readers with narratives that blur truth and fiction, dressed up with some Cherries in the Snow lipstick.”

—Amy Cipolla Barnes, author of Child Craft and Ambrotypes

“A tender daydream blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Anchored reaches beneath a surface coated with who we are: all the diesel fumes, White Shoulders perfume, The Young and the Restless theme song, red lipstick, lemon pound cake, and tiny bottles of Fireball to capture who we yearn to be, and to find the true core of the South: family, both blood and found. Goforth writes about place and belonging fearlessly.”

—Meagan Lucas, author of the Anthony-nominated collection
Here in the Dark and Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review

Details:

• Publication date: February 11, 2025
• ISBN: 978-1-960215-32-1
• 8 x 5 inches
• 112 pages