Hayesville Library to Host Local Writers Nov. 12 for Reading and Book Signing

You are invited:

 

Betty Read is Featured Speaker at "Author Talk" Nov. 2

Betty Reed

    Betty Jamerson Reed of Brevard, NC, educator and author, will be the guest speaker at the annual “Author Talk” on Saturday, Nov. 2. The event will be held at 2 p.m. at the Mount Vernon Rosenwald School, 454 Mount Vernon Church Road in Iron Station. Attendance is free, and refreshments will be served.

   Reed is the author of three nonfiction books. “The Brevard Rosenwald School” (2004, McFarland) relates the history of a school in Transylvania County that received funds for the renovation of an existing black school in the 1920s.

    “School Segregation in Western North Carolina, A History, 1860s-1970s” (2011, McFarland) surveys the black schools in that region, their faculties and staff, students, curriculum, and the problems facing small, segregated schools. 

    In 2019, WestBow press published “Soldiers in Petticoats” which relates the efforts of Martha Berry, Sophia Sawyer, and Emily Prudden to educate Native American, black, and white students from the Appalachian region.

    In addition to writing nonfiction, she also writes poetry. Her poetry has been included in numerous anthologies.

Reading and workshop by Cecilia Woloch Thursday, November 21st and Friday, November 22nd, in Sylva and Cullowhee

Local poet Louise Morgan Runyon has asked me to announce that the poet Cecilia Woloch is giving a reading of poetry focused on labor and social justice with Louise on Friday night, November 22^nd, at City Lights Books, at 6:00 p.m., and also leading a workshop on Thursday, November 21^st, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Cullowhee, with a limit of ten participants.  The workshop will be called Our Lives Which Can Never Run Dry: Workshop for Writers in Short-Form Prose & Poetry.

Louise Morgan Runyon facilitates Mountain Word Writers’ Group at City Lights, and all of her books are available there (louiserunyonperformance.com ). Contact sylvawriters@gmail.com for more information about the workshop or the reading, or if you would like more information about the Mountain Word Writers’ Group.

 I’ve never met Cecilia myself, but Kay Byer was very fond of her.  She is indeed, as her bio says, an award-winning poet with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fulbright Foundation and with a national and international reputation and has just returned from two years teaching in Poland. I won't be able to meet her this time, either, alas, because I'll be at a conference, but I hope that some of you may.

Contest Deadline Extended: Poetry in Plain Sight

NC Poetry Society 

New deadline: October 25

Due to the hurricane, the North Carolina Poetry Society extended the Poetry in Plain Sight deadline by 10 days. If you live in North Carolina, have poems under 20 lines and have access to the internet, plus the time and energy, consider submitting to this wonderful contest. You will have a chance to have your poem displayed in public places around the state. 

For more information and submission guidelines, visit the NC Poetry Society’s Poetry in Plain Sight page here: https://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/pips/ The judges this year are Karen Paul Holmes and Stephanie Pilar. 

 

The program is a collaborative effort of the North Carolina Poetry Society, North Carolina Writers' Network, Winston-Salem Writers, and Press 53 of Winston-Salem. 

 

Final Literary Hour for 2024 Features Benson and Plunkett

  The final Literary Hour of the 2024 season will feature local author Sandy Benson and poet David Plunkett reading from their most recent books.  The Literary Hour, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will meet in the Kieth House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. and is free and open to everyone.

Sandy Benson

Sandy Benson, a retired forester, is a non-fiction writer whose new book, “Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II,” is a collection of her father’s letters home from World War II.  In it, she chronicles the experiences of George David Geib, a pilot in the US Army Air Force during World War II.  His letters home vividly describe his training, travels, and wartime service, providing an authentic and detailed account of military life during that period.  In 2021 she published “My Mother’s Keeper: One Family’s Journey Through Dementia,” is a memoir written to help others understand and cope with the changes to a loved one brought on by the disease.

In addition to her books, she is also well-known as a local storyteller, appearing at gatherings and penning publicity releases for the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.  In 2023 and 2024 she received awards in the Cherokee/Clay Senior Games, Literary Arts Division, and in 2024 she placed third in the statewide competition, Life Experience category.  She and her husband, Barry, live in Warne, NC, with their two bossy dachshunds.

David Plunkett

David Plunkett is a novelist and poet who will be reading from and discussing his new collection of poems, “The Blue House.”  The poems in the collection address themes of loss and hope, life in the Georgia mountains, and the human need to be loved and remembered.  His poetry has appeared in North Carolina and national anthologies.  His two novels, “Chessboard” and “Poisoned Pawn” are thrillers set in the Middle East and deal with America’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the struggle to end the world’s dependence on oil.  Plunkett lives in Young Harris, GA, with his wife, Vickie.

Murphy, NC, author Mary Jo Dyre (“Springheads,” Redhawk Publications, 2023) will host the event.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.

Write your stories with Glenda Beall

 

Glenda C. Beall

Glenda Beall will teach online, three 2 hour classes on Tuesdays, 

November 5, 12, 19      6:00 - 8:00 PM  

Fee - $65

Send a check to Glenda Beall, 190 Burkemeade Ct. Roswell, GA 30075

Once you are registered, you will receive the link to the Zoom account to sign in.

We use prompts to stimulate memories. Think about smells from your childhood. What do you remember? Where were you? Who was with you? What happened? 

Think about a time when sound made a big impression on you. Were you outside? In a city or in a rural area? Did you hear forest sounds, birds, wind in trees, or other sounds? Was a baby crying, were children playing, did you hear music, what kind of music, did anyone dance?

Do you remember sounds in a city? Cars passing by, car horns blowing, trains pulling out, bells ringing, sirens, voices calling. Do any of these sounds remind you of a time in your life?

Write your unique story about you and the people in your life. 

Glenda Beall is a teacher and writer who has taught writing at John C Campbell Folk School, Tri-County Community College, and the Institute of Continuing Learning at Young Harris College while living in Hayesville, NC. She is program coordinator for the NC Writers Network-West, and director of Writers Circle Around the Table.

Her work has been widely published in literary journals, anthologies, slick magazines, and reviews. She is the author of three books:

Now Might as Well Be Then - poetry

Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins - an anthology of true stories, short stories, and poetry with photographs.  Co-author Estelle Rice

Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council,  (1858-1911) The family history of Tom Council and his ten children in the early twentieth century.

Congratulations, David Plunkett

Hats Off to David W. Plunkett!
September 10, 2024

David W. Plunkett's poem "I've Never Written of my Mother" has been published by Silver Birch Press in its All About My Mother series.

Poet Mary Ricketson to Read at Cherokee County Arts Council Oct. 10

    Cherokee County Arts Council presents Mary Ricketson, acclaimed local poet and author of 8 books, for a poetry reading at Cherokee County Arts Council, 33 Valley River Avenue, Murphy, October 10, at 5:30 pm.

Mary Ricketson

    Featured will be poems from her latest book, "Stutters, A Book of Hope," and other selections.  Discussion time will be available immediately following the reading.  Everyone is invited.

    "Stutters" is the personal collection of poems Mary thought she would never write but she’s glad she did.  

    Julia Nunnally Duncan of the North Carolina Literary Review said of the collection,  "So, as I read Ricketson’s poetic account of her lifelong struggle to understand and overcome stuttering, I vicariously experienced this struggle with her…. I think Ricketson has accomplished her goal in Stutters, it is a book of hope, a stirring and enlightening book of hope."

Zoom Poetry Workshop Oct 3: Inspiration & Prompts

 One Art Journal of Poetry Presents 

From Personal to Universal: Using Emotion to Craft Deeper Writing

with Karen Paul Holmes, NCWN-West member 

Thursday, October 3, 7:00-9:00pm (Eastern) 

Duration: 2 hours 

Price: $25 

Workshop Description: 

Writing the personal can make your poems more expansive, more capable of striking a true chord in others. In this workshop, we’ll explore ways to “go inward to go outward”— to draw from emotionally resonant personal experiences and observations to find deeper connection with readers. We’ll discuss a range of poems that effectively navigate concepts of joy, anger, grief and other emotional states. Join us for a two-hour session focused on giving you the freedom to express emotions and the tools to craft the poems you want and need to write. You’ll leave with prompts and a healthy dose of inspiration. 

About The Instructor:

Karen Paul Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in The Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her books are No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich). Her poems have been widely published in journals such as Plume, Diode, Glass, and Prairie Schooner and have also been featured on The Slowdown and The Writer's Almanac. After a long career in Corporate America, which included leading workshops at international conferences, Holmes became a freelance writer and has taught creative writing to adults at various conferences and venues, including John C. Campbell Folk School. She’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

To register: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/oneartajournalofpoetry/1393439