Emilee Hackney

Emilee Hackney is an American writer. Her 2026 debut memoir is All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir.

Early life and education Hackney was raised in Tazewell, Virginia. Her mother was a kindergarten teacher and her father worked for the West Virginia State Police and as an administrator for a coal mine.

After graduating from Tazewell High School as valedictorian, Hackney attended Southwest Virginia Community College before transferring to Harvard University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in English in 2020. Her senior thesis later became the basis for her debut book All That's Unseen.

All That's Unseen

Summary All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir details Hackney's life growing up in Tazewell, Virginia in the Appalachia region of the United States as an 8th generation Appalachian , including the socially conservative customs and traditions of the Pentecostal Church. She then experienced culture shock and social isolation after moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts to study at Harvard.

Development

While at Harvard, Michael Pollan advised Hackney's senior thesis and referred her to a literary agent. The thesis was later expanded into the memoir and released in 2026.

Critical reception

Some commentators have compared the memoir to American Vice President JD Vance's memoir (Hillbilly Elegy) about his own childhood in the Appalachian region of Ohio. Reviewing the memoir in The New York Times'', Jamie Quatro stated that Hackney's memoir was a much more nuanced and sophisticated account of life in Appalachia than Vance's book. Quatro commended Hackney's memoir for portraying complex characters, rather than the one-dimensional valiant hard workers and lazy welfare-state recipients in Vance's book. Quatro concluded: "When it comes to writing about rural Appalachia, Hackney’s memoir proves that an elegy is the last thing we need." The couple have a daughter.