Author Sandy Benson to be Mountain Wordsmiths Featured Reader for March

 Mountain Wordsmiths will continue our 2026 season of featured readers on Thursday, March 26, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

Sandy Benson

The gathering will feature our guest reader, author Sandy Benson, who lives near Warne, NC. Benson is a retired forester with a solid background in journalism. From the 1970s until her retirement in 2023, she worked forestry jobs in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska while moonlighting as a reporter, editor, publisher, and freelance non-fiction writer. She has received local and regional writing awards.

Her first two books, My Mother’s Keeper: One Family’s Journey Through Dementia and Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II, honor the memories of her parents. She is currently working on her third book, a memoir in short story form, Girls Can’t Do That, featuring her adventures and sometimes-hilarious misadventures as one of America’s early female foresters.

“Now that the serious tales are out of the way, it’s wonderful to finally get started on the fun stuff,” she says. “I’ll be sharing some girl-forester stories with the Mountain Wordsmiths.”

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. Mountain Wordsmiths is not a writing critique group.

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.