Debbie Richard of Elizabeth, seen here with her book “Pivot,” is having another book, “Hills of Home,” transcribed into Braille. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — A book by a local writer is being transcribed into Braille for use in a class at the West Virginia School for the Deaf & Blind.

“Hills of Home” is a memoir by Debbie Richard of Elizabeth about being raised in Appalachia. The book last year received a Readers’ Favorite 5-Star Review from Adelaide Books of New York and was runner-up in the 2019 San Francisco Book Festival Awards for Best Biography/Autobiography.

“Since that time, I’ve become acquainted with Kristie Mills, teacher at the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind,” Richard said. “Kristie is having my memoir, “Hills of Home,” about growing up in Appalachia, transcribed into Braille for students in her class. Paperback copies of “Hills of Home” will also be kept in her classroom for those students who are not visually impaired.”

Richard was born in Parkersburg. She lived in Munday in Wirt County in her childhood then in Roane County near Walton where she went to high school.

She graduated in 1987 with honors from West Virginia Career College at Charleston where she studied secretarial science.

“Pivot,” an illustrated book of her poetry, was the 2019 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention for Poetry.

“Hills of Home” was published in 2014 by eLectio Publishing.

She was a finalist in the Adelaide Literary Award Contest in 2018 for “Between Two Worlds,” a poem, and was published in the Adelaide Voices Literary Award Anthology in February 2018. “Rapunzel” was shortlisted for Best Poem in the Adelaide Literary Awards 2018 and was published in November in the Adelaide Literary Award Anthology.