Set in the South Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the late summer of 1970, Blood Kin tells the story of the Burden family and the community of outcasts that surrounds them. James Burden is the eldest son in the Burden family. A Korean War veteran and former prisoner-of-war, he struggles with inner demons and drug addiction. He has returned home after almost two decades of absence to find his family members consumed with struggles all their own.

Mark Powell has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Breadloaf Writers' Conference. He is the author of Prodigals, published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2002. Born and raised in South Carolina, Powell lives in New Haven, Connecticut.