North Georgia Writer Dana Wildsmith to be Featured Speaker for October WNO

Writers' Night Out - Oct. 14, 7 p.m. EST

Reading + Discussion... + Open Mic 

Dana Wildsmith

Poet, essayist, novelist and educator

    North Georgia poet, essayist, novelist, and educator Dana Wildsmith will be the featured speaker at Writers’ Night Out Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m.

    Dana Wildsmith’s writing has its roots in literal soil: the earth of the old farm she works to keep alive, as documented in her collection of poems, One Good Hand, and through her environmental memoir, Back to Abnormal, or along the desert sands of our southern border, as told in her novel, Jumping, a story which grew from Wildsmith’s work as a teacher of English Literacy to non-native speakers.

    Her most recent collection, One Light, follows the journey of her mother, Grace, down dementia’s rocky road. 

"One Light is a book about a Georgia mother and a daughter who must each take a turn at caregiving. In the first half of the book, the daughter tells of surviving near-fatal burns at age fourteen and describes with stark straightforwardness the healing process, during which her mother serves as one of her primary caregivers.

In Part II, where both voices are alternately and jointly heard, the daughter moves reluctantly into the role of caregiver as her mother travels dementia’s haunting paths. Their shared love of singing and a stubborn tenacity serve as thematic threads."

    Wildsmith has a new book forthcoming from Madville Publishing which took root as the pandemic flourished and we all searched for tools to help us cope with this unprecedented epic. With Access to Tools explores the role of tools in our lives: traditional farm tools, tools of the digital age, and cerebral tools such as patience and memory. 

    Wildsmith is a highly sought-after teacher of creative writing and has garnered residencies at the Hambidge Center, the Lillian E Smith Center, Grand Canyon National Park, and Everglades National Park.

    Her website, www.danawildsmith.com, is the home of a widely read blog mostly centered on teaching and writing.

Open mic readers are welcome to read poetry or prose for up to 4 minutes (2-poem maximum, please).

Zoom link and Open Mic sign-up: Contact Glenda Beall glendabeall@msn.com

Writers' Night Out is a monthly event sponsored by the NCWN-West. 

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