Susan Posey Featured Reader at January Mountain Wordsmith

        The first Mountain Wordsmiths of the 2025 season will feature Susan Posey on Thursday, January 23, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

Susan Posey

       The gatherings will begin with our guest reader, Susan Posey, author of  two books of historical fiction. Posey is a native of Asheville, NC, where she now lives with her husband Bill Jacobs, their two cats, and their dog for most of the year, and in Cashiers, NC, the rest of the year. She and her husband lived for many years in Atlanta, where they raised a son and daughter. From 2002-2013, she lived in Cashiers full-time, making treasured friends and starting the Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic, as well as continuing a practice of psychotherapy.

       From an early age, Posey loved the woods of Western North Carolina and their wild plants. While in Cashiers, she learned from a cousin about the family history on her mother’s side. The Welsh family of Reeses in this area are descendants of David Reese, a planter in Anson, now Mecklenburg County. A family story recalls the journey of her many-times great-aunts who came down the primitive trail, later called The Great Wagon Road, alone. They were herb women and collected plants of the New World as they traveled in the 1750s to North Carolina’s frontier to see their brother David. 

       Posey greatly admired the courage and fortitude it took to do this. When she retired, she wrote a historical fiction book imagining what the two sisters and their adventures must have been like. After six years of writing and research, this became A Home on Wilder Shores, her first novel. At the request of readers, she wrote a sequel, A Weave of Old and New. 

       Posey is a graduate of Duke University and has a master’s degree from the Catholic University of America. 

       NCWN-West continues to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We offer writing events and writing classes both online and in person. Mountain Wordsmiths gatherings always take place on Zoom. Attendees are welcome to bring a poem or short prose piece to read during Open Mic. Please limit the reading to 3-5 minutes.

       Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com or ncwngeorgiarep@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Our group is informal, and we welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing. All who attend are encouraged to enjoy their morning cup of coffee or tea as we share our thoughts about writing.