Gratton & Jones Featured at Writers' Night, Blairsville, GA

Poet Maren O. Mitchell's poem "Black Cow", appears in Wild Goose Poetry Review's Online Journal for Summer 2016

Maren O. Mitchell’s poem, “Black Cow” currently appears online, in Wild Goose Poetry Review. Mitchell’s poems have been published in Chiron Review, “Waiting on Squirrels,” “Rod Spears, Gigolo,” and “Phillipa Daisy, Dancer”; Hotel Amerika, “T Is Totally Balanced,” and “X Is a Kiss on Paper,”; The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Breath and Bread” a found poem; and The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop, “Shapeshifter” and “Intrinsic.” 

Maren O. Mitchell’s poems have appeared in Iodine Poetry Journal, The Lake (UK), Appalachian Heritage, The South Carolina Review, Hotel Amerika, Southern Humanities Review, Skive (AUS), The Classical Outlook, Town Creek Poetry, Appalachian Journal, Pirene’s Fountain, Wild Goose Poetry Review and elsewhere. Her work is included in Negative Capability Press Anthology of Georgia Poetry, The Southern Poetry Anthologies, V: Georgia & VII: North Carolina and Sunrise from Blue Thunder. Poems are forthcoming in Hotel Amerika and Chiron Review. Her nonfiction book is Beat Chronic Pain, An Insider’s Guide (Line of Sight Press, 2012) www.lineofsightpress.com  and is available at the Curiosity Shop bookstore in Murphy, NC, and on Amazon.

Mitchell has taught poetry at Blue Ridge Community College, Flat Rock, NC, and catalogued at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. In 2012 she received 1st Place Award for Excellence in Poetry from the Georgia Poetry Society. For over twenty years, across five southeastern states, she has taught origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.

A native of North Carolina, in her childhood Mitchell lived in Bordeaux, France, and Kaiserslautern, Germany. After moving throughout the southeast U.S., she now lives with her husband in Young Harris, Georgia, on the edge of the national forest.

You can find the link to "Black Cow," here:  https://wildgoosepoetryreview.wordpress.com/summer-2016/maren-o-mitchell-black-cow/

Brasstown, NC's John Campbell Folk School readings Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, to feature writers Mary Michelle Keller & Lucy Cole Gratton

Mary Michelle Keller

Lucy Cole Gratton

On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7:00 PM, the John Campbell Folk School 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, Brasstown, NC. This is being held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise notified. The reading is free of charge and open to the public. Poets and writers Mary Michelle Keller and Lucy Cole Gratton will be the featured readers, returning to the Folk School as one of the more entertaining pair of readers.

Mary Michelle Keller has lived in Town County 20 years. It is here that she began to write poetry followed by the natural progression into prose. She is a musician, artist and photographer. Keller says that all those loves give root to her poetry as inspiration. Her poem, As The Deer, published in the anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, was inspired by an old hymn by the same name that she plays on the dulcimer.

Keller enjoys words; moving them around on paper until a poem, short story or essay emerges. She finds pleasure in reading to a few or many, be it her own words or those of others, and says reading at the Folk School is always a treat. Keller always enjoys reading her pieces to locals and students of the school.

Lucy Cole Gratton is a retired CPA who has lived in the Murphy area over 20 years. She received her BA in mathematics from Agnes Scott College, her MEd in secondary math from the University of Florida and her accounting hours from Florida Atlantic University.

Since her retirement she served as Executive Director for the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition, Inc for several years and continues to assist with the accounting and tax preparation for the Coalition as a volunteer. She is a member and serves as Treasurer of the Mountain Community Chorus Inc., which rehearses at Young Harris College, presenting a concert each spring and Christmas.

Gratton is a Cherokee County representative for NCWN and a member of NCWN-West. She coordinates the program at John Campbell Folk School for NCWN-West and serves as moderator. Her poems include various topics but predominantly center around her concern for the environments and her home in the woods of Lake Appalachia. Gratton’s writing has been published in various venues but has had limited publication since she writes predominantly for the love of writing, sharing it with family and friends.

Contact: Lucy Cole Gratton, Cherokee County Representative –NCWN-West

828-494-2914 
lgratton@hughes.net

WINNERS OF FLASH FICTION CONTEST ANNOUNCE

The flash fiction contest for NCWN-West members attracted eight writers who submitted a total of 10 short pieces. 

Pat Davis from Brevard, NC volunteered to accept submissions and fees, and forward them to the judges and to Newt Smith, NCWN-West treasurer. 

The winning stories and authors are:

1. Small Talk - Ellen Andrews

2. The Oatmeal Box - Carol R Thompson

3. What Bugs Me - Tom Davis

Congratulations to our winners. 

We want to post the winning stories on this site very soon.

Perhaps we can hold another contest if we have enough interest. Let us know what  you think.

Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poetry Series seeks students

The Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series (GCDPS) is seeking four student poets to be mentored by Distinguished Poet (DP) Pat Riviere-Seel in 2016-2017.

The series, a free program of the North Carolina Poetry Society, pairs an established North Carolina poet with four emerging writers who wish to develop their work:  one from middle grades, one from high school, one from college, and one graduate student or non-student adult.  From December through May, the students and the DP correspond or meet to discuss and work on about a dozen of each student’s poems.  The series includes a GCDPS reading at Western Carolina’s annual Literary Festival in April with this year's Distinguished Poet for the western region, Pat Riviere-Seel, and the opportunity to set up joint readings of the student poets and the DP at the students’ home libraries. 

To apply, students fill out the application form found at the North Carolina Poetry Society’s website, http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/gcdps/, and e-mail it, with a three-page sample of the student’s poetry, to Dr. Catherine Carter at Western Carolina University (ccarter@email.wcu.edu.)  Poems and application can also be mailed to Dr. Carter at 421 Coulter Building, Department of English, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, 28723. 

Counties included in the western region are listed at http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/gcdps/gcdps_application/ .  The application requires the signature of a parent and of a teacher or public librarian for students under eighteen.

Pat Riviere-Seel is the author of two chapbooks: No Turning Back Now (2004) and The Serial Killer’s Daughter (2009).  Her most recent poetry collection, Nothing Below but Air (2014), was a semifinalist for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. The Serial Killer’s Daughter won the Roanoke-Chowan Award  and has been staged by several theatrical groups.  Pat has taught in UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program, has been poet-in-residence at the NC Zoo, co-edits the anthology Kakalak, and has worked as a newspaper journalist, publicist, and lobbyist.  She lives in Asheville, NC.

The Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series supports the mission of the North Carolina Poetry Society to foster the reading, writing, and enjoyment of poetry across the state.   The GCDPS originated when the NCPS Board voted in 2003 to follow the advice of Fred Chappell, then North Carolina’s Poet Laureate. He had written and advised the NCPS president about various approaches to take in furthering the NCPS mission of encouraging the reading, writing, and enjoyment of poetry. Prior Distinguished Poets have included Mary Adams, Joseph Bathanti, and Brent Martin.

Brenda Kay Ledford's Poem Published

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "Ambidextrous," was published in "Wild Goose Poetry Review," summer 2016 issue.

https://wildgoosepoetryreview.wordpress.com/summer-2016/brenda-kay-ledford-ambidextrous/

Brenda Kay Ledford's Poem Published

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "Miss Byrdie," appeared in "Mused BellaOnline Literary Review," fall, 2016 issue.


http://www.bellaonline.com/review

Readings from CWTPW on September 21, 2016, with Staci Lynn Bell and Mary Ricketson

 Did you miss Staci Lynn Bell and Mary Ricketson  reading  their poetry at

CWTPW, on September 21, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC? Please find excerpts 

from their reading here:

https://youtu.be/YYL8xWjL87Y

https://youtu.be/Bq-HZaEmY5A