Writers' Night Out, Blairsville, 2017 Schedule

Here's the revised schedule of distinguished readers. There's always an open mic too. 

The View Grill is open for dinner or refreshment -- arrive by 6 p.m. to be served.  

Students of Clay County, NC, receive awards for Poetry and Songwriting Lyrics April 25, 2017, co-sponsored by NCWN-West and the Clay Co. Historical and Arts Council

Winners of the Clay County Middle & High School Poetry & Songwriting Lyric Contest, 2017

 

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, Hayesville Middle and High Schools received awards for their entries in the Poetry and Songwriting Lyric Contests. The Clay County Historical and Arts Council, and the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West gave awards. The Copper Door Restaurant, Brothers Willow Ranch Restaurant, Rib Country in Hayesville, Rib Country in Hiawassee, Mary’s Southern Grill, and Chevelle’s in Hayesville donated NCWN-West’s awards.

Reba Beck from the Clay County Historical and Arts Council and Joan Ellen Gage, from the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, initiated and co-sponsored the contest, which will become an annual event in Clay County Schools.

Rosemary Rhodes Royston

Winners of the Middle School Contest for Poetry were: 1st place, Brodi Carter, 2nd place, Annessca Guyette, and 3rd place Whitley Sumpter. There were no entries for Songwriting Lyrics for the Middle school.

Winners of the High School Contest for Poetry were: 1st place, Dawson Mitchell, 2nd place, Abigail Combs, and 3rd place Montana Walker. Honorable mention was awarded to Sage Cook, and Austin Hobbs.

Winners of the High School Contest for Songwriting Lyrics were: 1st place,
 Jade Welch, 2nd placeHaley Odom, and 3rd place Victoria Beck. Judges for the contests included author Rosemary Rhodes Royston, poet, author, and NCWN-West representative, and songwriters Rob Tiger, Wyatt Espalin, and Brian Kruger. Program Coordinator for NCWN-West, Glenda Council Beall, read in place of Rosemary Rhodes Royston, from the book, “Splitting the Soil”, by Royston.

Local Poet Mary Ricketson has poem published in Whispers in the Wind, an international online journal

Mary Ricketson

Mary Ricketson's poem, "Morsels", was published in Whispers in the Wind, an international online journal.  Here is the link to the poem:

http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-04-20T19:32:00-07:00&max-results=30

Whispers is an international blog by Karen O'Leary that emphasizes poets being in community with each other.  Comments are invited.  Submission is easy, see guidelines on their website. 

Mary Ricketson, Murphy NC, has been writing poetry 20 years.  She is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor.  Her poetry has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Old Mountain Press, Whispers. Additionally, Ricketson has a chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name, and a full length collection of poetry, Hanging Dog Creek, published by Future Cycle Press. 

Currently Mary is using her own poetry to present empowerment workshops, combining roles as writer and her helping role as a therapist. Mary Ricketson’s poems and activities relate with nature, facilitate talk about a personal path and focus on growth in ordinary and unusual times.

Ricketson is the Cherokee County representative to North Carolina Writers Network-West, and president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance. She won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest, and writes a monthly column, "Women to Women", for The Cherokee Scout.  

Ricketson is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor and an organic blueberry farmer.

Writers' Night May 12: Viva México and more...

"Diana's poems leap with the color and music of Mexico, where she spent most of her life."

A former resident of Mexico—Diana Anhalt’s parents moved there from New York in 1950 in order to escape possible persecution during the McCarthy era­—she now lives in Atlanta. 
 
Her poetry books are Because There is No Return (Passager), Second Skin (Future Cycle), and Lives of Straw (Finishing Line). Her work's been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Nimrod,  The Comstock Review, Atlanta Review, and many other literary journals. She's also the author of the non-fiction book, A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates in Mexico 1948-1965 (Archer Books), as well as essays and book reviews published in both English and Spanish. She says, "I'm waiting for my writing to acquire a southern accent." 

Poet Joan M. Howard publishes her first book, Death and Empathy: My Sister Web

Teacher and poet Joan M. Howard began keeping a diary of poems in 1995, when her beloved sister, Susan Webster McAllister Swap, passed away. The poems were focused not only on her grief but also on the incredible gift of life itself, as well as the beauty of the lives of both her sister and Howard’s late husband, Jack.

Howard uses formal and free verse poetry to create a tribute to the holy gift of existence, which shows itself in many wonderful forms: through nature, animals, travel, and love. Her themes are universal and capture the humility, strength, courage, and resilience that live inside all of us—and all of which were essential parts of both her sister’s and her husband’s lives. Their genuine love of life and their ability to empathize were what Howard most admired about them, and they serve as the lifeline through all her poetry.

Joan M. Howard lives near the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge in Georgia. The serenity of her surroundings inspires much of her poetry. Her interests include kayaking, birding and boating.

Joan M. Howard's poetry has appeared in the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, The Road Not Taken:The Journal of Formal Poetry, The Deronda Review, Victorian Violet Press, Wild Goose Poetry Review, The Reach of Song 2012 poetry anthology (Georgia Poetry Society), POEM, Miller's Pond, Eclectic Muse,The Lyric and other journals.

Here is the link for: Death and Empathy: My Sister Web

Author and prose writer Marcia Hawley Barnes and author and poet Janice Townley Moore to read at John C. Campbell Folk School's Literary hour, Thursday, April 20, 2017

On Thursday, April 20, 2017  at 7:00 PM, the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, and NC Writers Network- West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This event is normally held the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise notified.  The reading is free of charge and open to the public. Poets and writers Janice Townley Moore and Marcia Hawley Barnes will be the featured readers. Both of these writers are widely published and their readings are always events that entertain.

Janice Townley Moore

Janice Townley Moore, Professor Emeritus of English at Young Harris College, published a chapbook, Teaching the Robins, with Finishing Line Press in 2005. Her poems have appeared in Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Poetry Review, Connecticut Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and in many anthologies. Her latest poem was published in Coming Off the Line: The Car in American Culture, published by Main Street Rag. An active member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, she is coordinator for the poetry critique group which meets at Tri-County Community College.

Marcia Hawley Barnes

Marcia Hawley Barnes,is a Georgia writer and poet. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, NetWest, and Ridgeline Literary Alliance. Ms. Barnes celebrated the American family and cuisine in 2008, when she researched, illustrated, and published The Little Book of Secret Family Recipes. A heritage cookbook, the collection contains favorite recipes found in the archives of her family. In 2016, her first children’s book, Tobijah, illustrated by Doreyl Ammons Cain, was published by Catch the Spirit of Appalachia.  The book was nominated for the Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2017. Her poetry has been published in Stone, River, Sky, An Anthology of Georgia Poems. The author also writes a monthly book review for a local newspaper, Clay County Progress

Maren Mitchell poems published

Maren O. Mitchell 's poem, "Watching Water," is published in Still: The Journal, #23 Winter 2017, in Poetry Sampler: River, and two poems, "Lois Hampton, Striptease Artiste, Expatriate, Paris" and "Lois Hampton, Homesick Striptease Artiste" in Wild Goose Poetry Review. Appalachian Heritage has published her poem, "Tree Watching" in the Winter 2017 issue.

Local poet Brenda Kay Ledford to read at Coffee With the Poets and Writers, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly literary event held at Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, will hold a reading at 10:30 AM, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Brenda Kay Ledford, award winning poet and native of Clay County is featured on the program this month.

Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School, earned her MA in Education from Western Carolina University, and received a diploma of highest honors in Creative Writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford's work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Woman's World, Country Extra, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Angels on Earth, 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition coffee-table book.

Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, which won the 2015 Paul GreenMultimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has received this award nine times for her books, her collections of oral history on Southern Appalachia, and her blogs:  http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.  She also won the North Carolina Press Association's Journalism Contest Award for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1999.

Ledford is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and Who's Who in America. She has appeared on the "Common Cup," talk show on Windstream Communication's cable television and has interviewed on "The Blue Sky Show" on WJUL/WJRB Radio Station. Additionally, Ledford gives regional poetry readings.

We welcome the public to join us at Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Please listen and enjoy, or read a poem or short prose piece at Open Mic. We are a friendly audience. After the meeting, we go out to lunch and invite our guests to join us.

NCWN-West is a program of the largest literary organization in the state of North Carolina, The North Carolina Writers' Network. Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com for more information.