‘Demon Copperhead’ Explored Addiction. Its Profits Built a Rehab Center.

Barbara Kingsolver has put royalties from her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to work in the region it portrayed, starting a home for women in recovery.

By Alexander Alter

When Barbara Kingsolver was writing “Demon Copperhead,” a novel that explores the devastating effects of the opioid crisis in southern Appalachia, she was doubtful that people would want to read about such a grim subject.

To draw readers in, she knew she would have to ground the narrative in real stories and push against stereotypes about the region. So she traveled to Lee County, Va., a corner of Appalachia that’s been battered by drug abuse, and spoke to residents whose lives had been wrecked by opioids.

“I sat down and spent many hours with people talking about their addiction journey,” Kingsolver said. “There are stories that went straight into the book.”

Published in 2022, the novel was an instant success, in time selling three million copies and winning a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2023. But even before the novel came out, Kingsolver felt indebted to the people who shared their stories. Read the full story at the New York TImes.