The Literary Hour on August 22, 2018, at the JCCFS, Brasstown, NC, will feature NCWN-West's writers Catherine Carter, Joan Howard, and Karen Luke Jackson

On Wednesday, August 22, 2018, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School (JCCFS) and NC Writers' Network-West (NCWN-West) will sponsor The Literary Hour at the JCCFS, Brasstown, NC. The Literary Hour is usually held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated. This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month's featured readers will be Catherine Carter, Joan Howard, and Karen Luke Jackson.

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.

Carter is assistant poetry editor at Cider Press Review and the Jackson County regional representative for NCWN-West. Carter blogs at: https://catherinecarterpoetry.com/.

Joan M. Howard's poetry has been published in POEM, The Road Not Taken:The Journal of Formal Poetry, the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, Victorian Violet, the Wayfarer and other literary journals.  She published the book Death and Empathy: My Sister Web, in 2017, available on Amazon.com.  Her latest book, Jack, Love and the Daily Grail, is available from Kelsay publications and Amazon.com. 

Howard is a former teacher with an MA in German and English literature and member of the North Carolina Writers' Network West and North Carolina Writers Network.  She enjoys birding and kayaking on the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee, Georgia.

Karen Luke Jackson’s oral history background and contemplative practices provide a latticework for her writing.  Her poems and stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Kakalak, Alive Now, Ruminate, moonShine review, Emrys, TOWN Magazine, The Great Smokies Review, Broad River Review, Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, and two anthologies featuring western North Carolina writers. 

Jackson lives in Flat Rock, North Carolina, holds a doctorate in education from North Carolina State University, and is a retreat leader with the Center for Courage & Renewal.