Mary A. Ricketson's new Poetry book, Shade and Shelter, has been published by Kelsay Books

Mary A. Ricketson's new poetry book, Shade and Shelter, is available through Kelsay Books, and at The Curiosity Shop bookstore in Murphy, NC. 

Please join her at her readings planned so far, May 4, 2018 at the Curiosity Bookstore in Murphy, NC, at 3:30 pm, along with Shelby Stephenson, NC Poet Laureate, and on May 17, 2018, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, at 7 pm, for The Literary Hour.  

Additionally, this book debuts her journey to merge the poet  with the therapist in her.  It's for 'the broken and the healing,' and she is seeking ways to work with groups for empowerment and growth.

  Mary Ricketson of Murphy NC, has been writing poetry for 20 years; to satisfy a hunger, to taste life down to the very last drop. 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, Freeing Jonah, and her chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name. Mary's second poetry book is Hanging Dog Creek. Ricketson's third book, Shade and Shelter, is newly released from Kelsay Books.

Ricketson is  Cherokee County's Representative for the North Carolina Writers Network-West, and is the president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance.

Ricketson writes a monthly column, "Women to Women", for The Cherokee Scout, Murphy's newspaper. She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, an organic blueberry farmer, and is currently working on a new collection of poetry.