Local Writer Featured At Writers’ Night Out 3rd Anniversary

This month, Writers’ Night Out celebrates its third anniversary of drawing audiences from five counties. On April 12, Jo Carolyn Beebe will share her delightful words with the always appreciative crowd. The event takes place at 7 p.m. at Brother’s Willow Ranch Restaurant in Young Harris, GA, and is open to the public. As usual, area writers will participate in the open microphone that follows the reading. There will also be a drawing for free books.

Now living in Towns County, GA, Beebe was born at the tip of the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Mississippi where oral family history was handed down to her by her grandparents and great-grandfather -- history rich in tales of the early settlers, Civil War encounters, and the hard life of the rural south. While studying creative writing at Miami University, she discovered those family legends provided material for short stories and poetry.

Beebe’s other passion is genealogy. She says, “Colorful information about ancestors has made for some ‘wow’ anecdotes which have found their way into my stories and essays.” Her Pieces Of Yesterday, a genealogy mystery and “waiting-to-be-published” novella, combines these elements. Her publication credits include Main Street Rag, Lonzie’s Fried Chicken, Lights in the Mountains, Heroes of Hackland, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Clothes Lines, Women’s Spaces Women’s Places, View from the Top, and Abingdon Press.

Beebe has been married to husband, John, for almost fifty-seven years. They have three daughters and six grandchildren. Hobbs, their cat, is nearly seventeen.

For open microphone, readers of prose or poetry can sign up at the door, and each person has three minutes. Writers’ Night Out takes place the second Friday of every month at Brother’s Willow Ranch Restaurant, 6223 Hwy 76 West, across from Brasstown Valley Resort, phone 706-379-1272. The event is in the upstairs room, accessible via stairs inside the restaurant or the ramp (no stairs) from the upper parking lot. Food and beverages will be available for purchase; please come by 6:15 pm to order.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.