"[1] Notable writers who have contributed to Appalachian Review include Harriette Simpson Arnow, Pinckney Benedict, Wendell Berry, Wiley Cash, Nikki Giovanni, bell hooks, Silas House, Fenton Johnson, Barbara Kingsolver, Maurice Manning, Jim Wayne Miller, Robert Morgan, Ann Pancake, Jayne Anne Phillips, Ron Rash, Lee Smith, James Still, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Neela Vaswani, Frank X Walker and Crystal Wilkinson.

It publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, craft essays, interviews, book reviews, and visual art.

Featured authors included Cormac McCarthy, Silas House, Crystal Wilkinson, Emma Bell Miles, Harriette Simpson Arnow, Ron Rash, Wilma Dykeman, and Karen Salyer McElmurray, among others, as well as special issues dedicated to African-American Appalachian writers and Eastern Band of the Cherokee members.

[3] Creative nonfiction writer and editor Jason Kyle Howard assumed editorship of Appalachian Review in November 2013.

[4] Since then, the magazine has focused on showcasing the original work of both emerging and established writers throughout Appalachia and beyond.