Ricketson and Dyre collaborate in powerful presentation of their original writing.

Poet Mary Ricketson and novelist Mary Jo Dyre will be the featured readers at Cherokee Cellars Winery's authors night Thursday, March 28.  Doors will open at 5 p.m. with the presentation begining at 6 p.m.   The address for the event is 45 Valley River Ave., Murphy, NC.

Mary Ricketson will read selections from her poetry collection, "Mississippi, The Story of Luke and Marian," about life with her parents, their belief that all people are equal, while Mississippi's time of segregation and the civil rights movement stirred pain and conflict.  Additionally, she read will from her newest collection, "Stutters, A Book of Hope," which delves into her lifelong struggle with stuttering.  The poems speak to the experience of many people- feeling different, challenged, and finding a way.

Mary Jo Dyre will read from "Dark Spot," a mystery novel started by her brother Arnold who died midway through the writing.  Dyre picked up his manuscript and found her own words to finish the "tangled, complex web of humanity that often results when man gives over to evil."  She will also read from "Springheads," which will take you to another time and still keep you wrapped in your own heart.  She weaves truth and tweaks it with what might be, ingrained with vibrant characters set in a world where all returns to two springheads.