Poets Catherine Carter and Mary Ricketson to read at CWPW, August 15, 2018, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

On Wednesday, August 15, 2018, at 10:30 AM, Western North Carolina poets Catherine Carter and Mary Ricketson will read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. The reading is free and open to the public, and an open mic will follow the reading.

Born on the eastern shore of Maryland and raised there by wolves and vultures, Catherine Carter lives with her husband in Cullowhee, near Western Carolina University, where she teaches in the English Education and Professional Writing programs. Her full-length collections of poetry include The Swamp Monster at Home (LSU Press, 2012) The Memory of Gills (LSU, 2006), and Larvae of the Nearest Stars (forthcoming from LSU, fall 2019.  The Memory of Gills received the 2007 Roanoke-Chowan Award from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association; her chapbook Marks of the Witch won Jacar Press’ 2014 chapbook contest; other awards include the 2018 James Applewhite Poetry Award from the North Carolina Literary Review, the 2014 Poet Laureate’s award from the North Carolina Poetry Society, the 2013 poetry award from Still: The Journal, and numerous Pushcart nominations.  Her work has also appeared in Best American Poetry 2009, Orion, Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Tar River Review, and Ploughshares, among others; she is assistant poetry editor at Cider Press Review and the Jackson County regional representative for NCWN-West.Her website is:

 https://catherinecarterpoetry.com/

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, and Whispers. Poetry books include, her chapbook, I Hear the River Call my Name, and two full length poetry collections, Hanging Dog Creek, and Shade and Shelter. Mary won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest.

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

Mary writes a monthly column, Women to Women, for The Cherokee Scout.  She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor and an organic blueberry farmer.

Ricketson is Cherokee County representative to North Carolina Writers Network West, and president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance. 

CWPW is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, which is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. For more information, please contact Glenda Beall at: 828-389-4447.