Rising Stars: Meet Hannah Bunn West

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Bunn West.

Hi Hannah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story. 
I grew up on the Outer Banks, which is sort of a wild place out on the edge of the world that operates by its own set of rules. We have a lot of legend and lore out here, and I grew up with a love of stories and books. An old friend of my mom’s once told me that my mom would read to my sisters and I any chance she got. Even in the car, she’d turn around and read to us at stoplights as we rode along in our car seats. I studied Creative Writing with a concentration in Nonfiction at UNCW and graduated with my BFA in 2009. I’ve been working as a freelance writer (among other things) since 2011 and was so honored and honestly kind of amazed to publish my first book, Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks, in 2022. It profiles women that made amazing yet mostly unknown contributions to our area’s rich history. I’ve also become active in advocating for the needs of women and children across our state (and nation), specifically focusing on the childcare crisis. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I was expecting my second child when I signed the book contract, just a few months before the pandemic began, so there really couldn’t have been a worse time to research it and write it! Libraries, museums, and universities were closed (not to mention childcare), and my deadline was pushed back a couple of times. But I believe a story that needs to be told will always find its way into the world, and I’m really proud to be that vehicle. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My goal as a nonfiction author is to share stories and perspectives that are often marginalized. With my book of historical nonfiction, I really wanted to widen the lens of our local history–to examine different angles of the stories that we tell and the stories that we don’t tell. We glorify the story of the Lost Colony, famous for producing “the first English child born in the New World,” but we know virtually nothing about that child, Virginia Dare, or her mother, Eleanor Wright Dare. I only recently learned about another lost colony that existed in the same exact area of Roanoke Island in the 1860s. It was a Freedmans Colony of formerly enslaved people who risked their lives to flee plantations across the swampy marshland of eastern North Carolina during the Union army’s occupation of Roanoke Island during the Civil War. It is such a significant part of our history, but there is no physical evidence left, and I never learned about it in school. These are the kinds of stories I want to tell. 

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
An important lesson I’ve learned along my journey is the importance of listening. The power of listening to others tell their stories opens up so many doors for you, for them, and for whole communities, collectively. Also, the importance of listening to yourself, your own inner voice, to guide you in your creative pursuits and in your life in general. 

Pricing:

• $21.99 Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks (Arcadia Publishing)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hannahwestwrites.com
• Instagram: @hannahwestwrites
• Other: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781467146029

Image Credits
Lauren Cowart