August Events at City Lights Books in Sylva

Wendy Watkins Offers a Discussion on Sustaining Happiness
Friday, August 17th at 6:30 p.m.
Professional Certified Coach, Wendy Watkins will visit City Lights Bookstore on Friday, August 17th at 6:30 p.m. to discuss methods of sustaining happiness. She will also present her new book, The Joy Factor Recipe Book. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach she is perfect for those who desire to amplify their clarity, focus and positivity to increase their productivity, fulfillment and success. Wendy says of her book, "Because of my deep love for both personal development and food, I bring them together to share  this common sense approach to having more joy in your life. I use the word 'recipe' to describe the instructions and guidelines that lead to sustainable happiness. Some you can prepare in your kitchen, but most are prepared in your heart, soul and conscious mind."
Learn how to live a delicious life with Wendy as she shares her philosophy that our lives are like a cookbook and we choose what recipes we want to use to create a life we love each day. She'll share four ingredients you can weave into your recipe, as well as share a few of the recipes that others have contributed, including a recipe or two from Bernadette Peters, owner of City Lights Café.

Discussion on Appalachian Folk Magic
Friday, August 31st at 6:30 p.m.
On Friday, August 31st at 6:30 p.m. Byron Ballard will present her book, Staubs and Ditchwater. Part memoir, part instructional primer, Staubs and Ditchwater is an entertaining introduction to Appalachian folk magic. This knowledge encompasses planting by the signs, healing with herbs divination. Ballard leads local and regional workshops on these traditional practices and after much thought and many conversations decided to share fading aspect of traditional culture from the southern highlands. To reserve a copy of her book please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499.

John York Returns with New Poetry Collection
Saturday, September 1st at 6:30 p.m.
Poet and North Carolina resident, John York will return to City Lights Bookstore on Saturday, September 1st at 6:30 p.m. to present his latest collection of poetry, Cold Spring Rising. Of the book, Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek and Boone says of the book, "John Thomas York has long been known as the Yadkin Bard. But he is also a poet of the vast reaches of the night sky, of deep memory, of wonder. His voice is distinctive, fresh, bringing to life a world long forgotten, of work, of struggle, of family bonds and community. I know of few poets who recreate so effectively the awe and aching immediacy and imaginative intensity of childhood. It is a pleasure to welcome the abundance, the full range of achievement, of Cold Spring Rising, which has both the sweetness and thrilling sting of the coldest and boldest spring water." York's work has appeared in many regional journals, as well as in anthologies such as Word and Witness: 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry and The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume III: Contemporary Appalachia. He has previously published three chapbooks, Picking Out, Johnny's Cosmology, and, in 2010, Naming the Constellations, the last published by Spring Street Editions of Sylva, NC. In 2011, he received the first annual James Applewhite Poetry Prize from the North Carolina Literary Review. He lives with his family in Greensboro, NC. For more information or to reserve a copy of the book please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499.



A Community's Fight to Save a Mountain
Friday, September 7th at 6:30 p.m.
On Friday, September 7th at 6:30 p.m. Jay Erskine Leutze will discuss his book, Stand Up That Mountain at City Lights Bookstore. Leutze's book tells of his role in defending a small mountain town on the Appalachian Trail from a large-scale gravel mine operation. Once the company reveals its intention to remove the summit of Belview Mountain in Avery County, Leuze and other community activists lead the fight to protect the land they love so dearly. Together, they face fiery public hearings and potentially crippling legal battles as they strive to save the mountain. As the mining company continues to scrape away the forested land, Leutze's group searches for a way to stop the destruction. Stand up That Mountain demonstrates how a small community, united, can defend itself from an overbearing wrong. Trained as an attorney, Leutze, has become a leading voice for state and federal conservation funding for investment in public lands. He is a Trustee for Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, one of the nation's most established land trusts.