Cary and Barnes Featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers Wednesday September 18

            Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Richard Montfort Cary and writer Marcia Hawley Barnes on Wednesday, September 18, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. 

The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

            Cary began writing poetry in high school and continues to this day.  In 1964, he received a BFA in Theatre Arts from Carnegie Mellon University. He spent six years in regional theatres, before moving year-round to Nantucket Island MA, to become a designer & builder of custom homes. In 1985, he founded Actors Theatre of Nantucket, the Island’s professional theatre company, and served as Artistic Director for twenty years. He retired in 2004 and moved to Asheville.

            In 2017, Cary and his artist wife Cheryl moved to Hayesville, to an older house still under renovation, which they share with their two lively dogs. His son is a comedy writer in Hollywood CA. His daughter is an actress and script supervisor.

            Besides being an accomplished harmonica player, Cary’s claim to fame is his great aunt, Olive Dame Campbell, founder of The John C Campbell Folk School. In March 2019, he played Harry Baker in Neil Simon’s “Come Blow Your Horn” at the Peacock Performing Arts Center.

           Born in Tacoma, Washington, Marcia Barnes’ early life was in sight of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. She studied liberal arts at the University of Puget Sound and design at the University of Houston She received a BFA from the University of South Florida.  Further studies in Spanish and French languages were at Hillsborough Community College, University of Tampa, Macon State College, and Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia.  In 2014, she earned a Doctor of Christian Theology degree from the International Miracle Institute, Pensacola, Florida.

            Following a career in marketing, Barnes began writing in 2004.  She has written and illustrated a heritage cookbook, The Little Book of Secret Family Recipes; her poetry was published in 2015, in Stone, River, Sky, An Anthology of Georgia Poems.

            Tobijah was Barnes’ first children’s book to be published; the sequel, A Day with Tobijah, was published in 2019.  Barnes also writes a monthly book review for the Clay County Progress in Hayesville, North Carolina. 

            Ms. Barnes is a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and enjoys participating in its local events.  She is also a frequent visitor to libraries where she reads to children and shares the adventures of Tobijah and his friends.  The author lives in Towns County, Georgia.

            For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.