STEPHEN KOCH

Stephen Koch is author of From Almeda to Zilphia: Arkansas Women Who Transformed American Popular Song, illustrated by Katherine Strause.

Koch is an award-winning journalist in both broadcasting and print, with a focus on the culture, history, and music of Arkansas and the Midsouthern United States. An author, musician, songwriter, playwright, and illustrator, Stephen Koch is also writer-host of “Arkansongs,” a weekly feature syndicated on public radio affiliates throughout the Midsouth. He wrote and narrated Music In Arkansas: 200 B.C.-1941 A.D., the encompassing Arkansas PBS/Arkansas Department of Education documentary film project. Since 2019, he’s been illustrating a graphic novel series called Ozark Murder Ballads Illustrated. He’s currently working with the City of Hot Springs on the Hot Springs Music Trail, a historical marker project, with plans to take it statewide. His book, From Almeda to Zilphia: Arkansas Women Who Transformed American Popular Song, comes out this spring on Et Alia Press; his previous biographical work was Louis Jordan: Son of Arkansas, Father of R&B (History Press).