Michael Henson was born and raised in Sidney, Ohio and came to Cincinnati to go to college at Xavier University. After teaching school in Adams County and completing an M.A. at the University of Chicago, he worked as a community organizer, machine tender and forklift operator in a paper bag factory, union steward, substance abuse counselor, and adjunct professor at Xavier University and other colleges. As substance abuse counselor, he was a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor and worked with Talbert House, Addiction Services Council, and Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services.

While still in college, he began a lifelong commitment to Appalachian issues and was a founding member of the Urban Appalachian Council. He has also been affiliated with several region-wide Appalachian organizations, including the Appalachian Studies Association, the Council of the Southern Mountains, Appalachian Focus, and the Appalachian Development Projects Committee.

He published Ransack, his first book of fiction, in 1980 and Crow Call, his first book of poems, in 2006. In all, he has published five books of fiction and four collections of poetry. His latest book, Maggie Boylan, received wide recognition for its depiction of a woman addicted to opiates in rural Appalachia. Secure the Shadow, a novel, is due out in October, 2021. His stories, poems, essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. He is a past co-editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the annual publication of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative.

He is married to Elissa Pogue, a musician, potter, and community activist. He and Elissa formed Carter Bridge, a five-member bluegrass, old-time, and Americana band, in 2018. He has four children: Jodessa Henson, Liv Kristina Henson, Jessie Sojourner Henson, and James Henson Pogue.

He holds the rank of nidan (2nd degree black belt) in Aikido and has been known to wave a fly rod while standing in a trout stream.

Books by Michael Henson:

Fiction:

            Ransack

            A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind

            Tommy Perdue

            Maggie Boylan

            Secure the Shadow (forthcoming, 2021)

Poetry:

            Crow Call

            The Tao of Longing and the Body Geographic

            The True Story of the Resurrection and Other Poems

            The Dead Singing