Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford to read at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, on Thursday, June 15, 2017

JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and North Carolina Writers' Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This event is held regularly on the third Thursday the month. The reading is free of charge and the public is invited to attend. Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford will be the featured readers, both of which are widely published poets. This should be an excellent program and presents an exceptional opportunity to hear these two women read their poems, many of which are centered on the mountain area.

Karen Paul Holmes was selected for Best Emerging Poets, 2015 (Stay Thirsty Media), and her full-length poetry collection, Untying the Knot,was published by Aldrich Press in 2014 (available on Amazon.com). Her poems have appeared in journals, such as Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Poetry East, and Atlanta Review, and anthologies such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol 5: Georgia. Holmes serves as the Towns County Representative for the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and is a member of the Georgia Poetry Society.

Formerly the VP-Communications at ING, Holmes now works as a freelance writer and teaches writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School, Writers Circle, and elsewhere. She’s inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake Chatuge, and her home in Hiawassee, GA. Holmes supports writers through a critique group she started in Atlanta, and the Writers Night Out she founded/hosts in Blairsville on the second Friday of every month.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School, earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University, and received a diploma of highest honors in creative writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford’s work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Woman’s World, Country Extra, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Angels on Earth, 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies and Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition coffee-table book.

Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that won the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has received this award nine times for her books, collecting oral history on Southern Appalachian and on her blogs: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.She also won the North Carolina Press Association’s Journalism Contest Award for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1999.

Ledford is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and Who’s Who in America. She has appeared on the “Common Cup,” talk show on Windstream Communication’s cable television, and also was interviewed on “The Blue Sky Show” over WJUL/WJRB Radio Station and gives regional poetry readings.

Local poet Brenda Kay Ledford to read at Coffee With the Poets and Writers, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly literary event held at Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, will hold a reading at 10:30 AM, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Brenda Kay Ledford, award winning poet and native of Clay County is featured on the program this month.

Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School, earned her MA in Education from Western Carolina University, and received a diploma of highest honors in Creative Writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford's work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Woman's World, Country Extra, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Angels on Earth, 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition coffee-table book.

Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, which won the 2015 Paul GreenMultimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has received this award nine times for her books, her collections of oral history on Southern Appalachia, and her blogs:  http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.  She also won the North Carolina Press Association's Journalism Contest Award for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1999.

Ledford is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and Who's Who in America. She has appeared on the "Common Cup," talk show on Windstream Communication's cable television and has interviewed on "The Blue Sky Show" on WJUL/WJRB Radio Station. Additionally, Ledford gives regional poetry readings.

We welcome the public to join us at Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Please listen and enjoy, or read a poem or short prose piece at Open Mic. We are a friendly audience. After the meeting, we go out to lunch and invite our guests to join us.

NCWN-West is a program of the largest literary organization in the state of North Carolina, The North Carolina Writers' Network. Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com for more information.

Video excerpts from April 20, 2016, NCWN-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers, with Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson

For those of you who missed Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Moss Memorial Library, in Hayesville, NC, on April 20, 2016, here are some video excerpts of Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson.

Brenda Kay Ledford

Nancy Simpson

For other videos of this event, please go to our network's new YouTube channel at :  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu63wy0hyAFhgTPRo7by4og

Joan Ellen Gage, Admin of NCWN-West Blog

 

NCWN-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers to feature Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson, on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 10:00 AM at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

The North Carolina Writers' Network-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers will feature poets Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson, on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 10:00 AM. The event will be held at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, North Carolina, and is open to the public. As always, the readings will be followed by an open mic.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County, North Carolina. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School and earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and was editor of "Tri-County Communicator" at Tri-County Community College. She holds a diploma of highest honors from Stratford Career Institute in Creative Writing.

Ledford's prose and poetry have appeared in many publications including: "Angels on Earth Magazine," "Our State Magazine," "Asheville Poetry Review," "Appalachian Heritage," and 30 anthologies printed by Old Mountain Press. Finishing Line Press published three award-winning chapbooks. Aldrich Press printed her poetry book, "Crepe Roses," that received the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. She has received the Paul Green Award seven times for her literary works and collecting oral history. Ledford blogs at: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com.

Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student and Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems published at Carolina Wren Press. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a B.S. in Education from Western Carolina University. She received a N.C. Arts Fellowship and co founded NC Writers Network-West, a non profit, professional writing organization serving writers living in the remote mountains west of Asheville. For more than thirty years she has been known as “beloved teacher” to thousands of young writers.

Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and in other literary magazines. Her poem, “Night Student” was reprinted in the anthology Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry and in Literary Trails of North Carolina. Seven of her poems are featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press. The Southern Poetry Review, Armstrong College in Savannah, Georgia included one of her poems in their 50^th Anniversary issue, Don't Leave Hungry and a new poem in their recent issue featuring Georgia poets. Her poem “Carolina Bluebirds” was included in The Poets Guide to Birds, an anthology edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser, and her poem “Pink Pantsuit” was featured recently in Ted Kooser’s widely read “American Life in Poetry” newspaper column. Simpson blogs at: http://nancysimpson.blogspot.com/.

For more information, please contact Glenda C. Beall at 828-389-4441.

Brenda Kay and Blanche, Ready for Christmas

Brenda Kay Ledford and her mother, Blanche Ledford

The picture above was first posted on Brenda's blog, She gave me permission to share it with all of  you. Brenda Kay Ledford has been a member of NCWN and therefore, a member of NCWN-West for as long as I have been here, about twenty years or more. She lives with and cares for her mother, Blanche, also a published writer.

Brenda Kay's poetry books have won the Paul Green award from the North Carolina Society of Historians several times. She began writing poetry in Nancy Simpson's writing classes and began publishing her work very soon after. She is dedicated to promoting her community in various ways and we often see articles by Brenda Kay in the local newspaper. She's a retired educator and earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and was Creative Writing Editor of "Tri-County Communicator."

Blanche Ledford has not been able to get out much lately due to a fall and a broken hip earlier this year, and we have missed seeing her at our writing events, but she is doing better. Several of Blanche's stories of growing up in Appalachia were published in anthologies by Old Mountain Press. She and Brenda Kay co-wrote a book, Simplicity, about their lives here in Clay County NC. She won the Paul Green award for that book.

The new anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, It's All Relative, Tales from the Tree, includes one of Blanche's stories, Planting by the Signs.  Curiosity Shop Books in Murphy, NC  carries this book.

Brenda Kay and her mother preserve the old ways of the mountain people by writing about them.
Brenda Kay's most recent book of poetry is Crepe Roses published by Kelsay Books. This book also won a Paul Green Multi Media Award.

Besides posting photography that is a feast for the eyes, Brenda writes on her blog about interesting places to visit. Read about this goat farm right down the road from where I live in Clay county.

The Christmas picture of Brenda Kay and her mother, Blanche, warms my heart because I know they have the same loving relationship I had with my mother.
 Visit Brenda Kay's blog to learn more about them.

Brenda Kay Ledford to read at the Folk School in Brasstown, NC, on Thursday, June 18, 2015, at 7:00 PM

JOHN CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

On Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This is held on the third Thursday of each month unless designated otherwise.  The reading is free of charge and open to the public.  Brenda Kay Ledford, who is an accomplished poet, will be the featured reader.  In addition, members of NCWN West will be reading sone of their own poems.  This presents an exceptional opportunity to hear a favorite local reader and enjoy poems by other members of NetWest.

BRENDA KAY LEDFORD

Brenda Kay Ledford is a native of Clay County, North Carolina.  She's a retired educator and earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University.  She studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee and was Creative Writing Editor of "Tri-County Communicator."

Her work has appeared in many journals including "The Broad River Review," "Charlotte Poetry Review," "Asheville Poetry Review," "Town Creek Poetry," "Angels on Earth Magazine," and other publications.  Finishing Line Press published her three poetry chapbooks and Kelsay Books recently printed her poetry book, CREPE ROSES.

Ledford has received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her poetry books and collecting Appalachian history.  She received the Royce Ray Award for her poem, "Velma," and "The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature," nominated her poetry for "Best of the Net," in 2009.

Ledford's  two blogs include:  http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.  She also promotes authors on www.linkedin.com/in/brendakayledford.com.

MEMBERS OF NCWN WEST

NorthCarolina Writers' Network-West is a program of the North Carolina Writers' Network. It was created in 1992 with the mission of supporting writers in the nine westernmost counties of North Carolina, as well as adjacent counties in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina and to alleviate the isolation of writers living in this mountainous area by providing programs, resources, and community.  Local members are from the counties of Cherokee and Clay in NC and Union and Towns in GA.

NetWest does this by providing many free, open to the public monthly events, as well as classes and workshops intermittently throughout the year, and annual events, such as a spring writers' conference. Writers of all ages, genres and skill levels are invited to join us.  For more information or to become a member, visit our website at http://www.ncwriters-west.org/.

Local members will be sharing some of their works, both poems and prose, during this month’s Literary Hour at John Campbell Folk School immediately following Brenda Kay Ledford’s reading.

Coffee with the Poets April 8, 2015

Brenda Kay Ledford

Nancy Simpson

April is poetry month and there is no finer way to celebrate than attending Coffee with the Poets, a monthly event held at Joe’s Coffee Shop and Trading Post, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. North Carolina Writers Network-West sponsors this event which meets at10:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Recently a visitor to our area said, "This should be on a list of things to do here!" Two widely published local poets, members of NCWN West, Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson, are featured on the program this month. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open to the public at no charge. Bring a poem or short prose, 1000 words or less, and read at Open Mic. Joe’s Coffee shop serves fine coffees and teas, and snacks can be purchased. Brenda Kay Ledford is a well-known poet and native of Clay County, NC. She holds a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She has done post-graduate work in Appalachian Studies, and the theme of most of her writing is her Appalachian heritage. Brenda received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her books, her collections of oral history, and her blog Historical Hayesville. Her work has appeared in Our State, Carolina Country Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Appalachian Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Asheville Poetry Review, Country Extra Magazine, Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition Celebration, and many other journals. Finishing Line Press published Brenda’s poetry books: Shewbird Mountain, Sacred Fire, and Beckoning. She co-authored Simplicity with Blanche L. Ledford.  She is also an outstanding photographer as you can see on her blog, Blue Ridge Poet. Nancy Simpson lives in Hayesville, NC. Through 2010 she served as Resident Writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She taught many of the poets and writers in this area in her classes there and at Tri-County Community College. She also taught poetry for ICL at Young Harris College. Nancy is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems (Carolina Wren Press, 2010). She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a BS in education from Western Carolina University. She received a NC Arts Fellowship and co-founded NC Writers Network-West. Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and others. Her poems have been included in anthologies, Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and Literary Trails of N.C. (2008). Her poems have also been featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press. Visit her blog, Living Above the Frost Line to learn more about her.

Contact NCWN West Representative, Glenda Beall, at 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com  for information.

Interview on You Tube with award-winning Netwest Poet

Brenda Kay Ledford, award-winning poet from Hayesville, NC was interviewed by Pam Roman of  the Clay County Chamber of Commerce regarding her new book, Crepe Roses.

See the complete interview here.

Congratulations, Brenda Kay.

The Literary Hour at JC Campbell Folk School

On Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, a monthly hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCCFS campus. The reading is free of charge and open to the public. 

This month presents an exceptional opportunity to meet and listen to the featured readers, Nancy Simpson and Brenda Kay Ledford, whose poetry mostly centers around the mountains.

NANCY SIMPSON

 

Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems (Carolina Wren Press, 2010). She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a BS in education from Western Carolina University. She received a NC Arts Fellowship and co-founded NC Writers Network-West. For more than 30 years, young writers have known her as “beloved teacher.” Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and others. Her poems have been included in anthologies, Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and Literary Trails of N.C. (2008). Her poems have also been featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press.

Nancy lives in Hayesville, NC. Through 2010 she served as Resident Writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Presently she teaches Poetry Writing at the Institute for Continued Learning at Young Harris College.

BRENDA KAY LEDFORD

Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh generational native of Clay County, NC, and holds a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University.

She writes about her heritage and has done post-graduate work in Appalachian studies. Brenda received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her books, collecting oral history, and blog, Historical Hayesville.

Her work has appeared in Our State, Carolina Country Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Appalachian Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Asheville Poetry Review, Country Extra Magazine, Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition Celebration, and many other journals.

Finishing Line Press published Brenda’s award-winning poetry books: Shewbird Mountain, Sacred Fire, and Beckoning. She co-authored Simplicity with Blanche L. Ledford. These books are available at the John C. Campbell Folk School Craft Shop. 

LEDFORD PUBLISHED IN BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY BOOK

Brenda Kay Ledford's poetry, "Holy Ground," and "Full Wolf Moon," were published in the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY coffee table book.

Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway sponsored this book project to celebrate 25 years of service to the Parkway.  The silver anniversary commemorative edition included photographs, poetry, and prose by 47 writers.

The photography of Dr. Nye Simmons, a physician from Knoxville, TN, was featured.  He photographed the Parkway for 10 years.  This book brought the best images of his portfolio to the pages, paired with selection of the region's leading authors.

According to John Muir, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul."

For millions of people, the Blue Ridge Parkway is such a place.  The 469-miles, carved across the Blue Ridge Mountains between 1935 and 1987, connects two national parks-Shenandoah in western Virginia and Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina.

Today there are 10,000 members of Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway and over 2,000 volunteers.  For more information about Friends, contact:  800-228-PARK (7275), www.BlueRidgeFRIENDS.org.

BRENDA KAY LEDFORD FEATURED AT JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

Brenda Kay Ledford will read from her poetry chapbook, BECKONING, published by Finishing Line Press, at the John C. Campbell Folk School on Thursday, June 27 at 7:00 PM.  This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network West and the public is invited to this free event.

Clay County Native

A native of Clay County, NC, Ledford is a retired educator.  She received her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University and studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee.

          She’s former editor of Tri-County Communicator at Tri-County Community College and previous reporter for the Smoky Mountain Sentinel. She received an award from North Carolina Press Association for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School.

         Ledford belongs to North Carolina Writers’ Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Georgia Poetry Society, and a charter member of the Byron Herbert Reece Society.  She’s listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, and Who’s Who in America.

Her work has appeared in many journals including “Lyricist,” “The Broad River Review,” “Pembroke Magazine,” “Asheville Poetry Review,” “Main Street Rag,” “Charlotte Poetry Review,” “Wild Goose Poetry Review,” “Town Creek  Poetry,” “Appalachian Heritage,” “Journal of Kentucky Studies,” “Our State,”  “Byron Herbert Reece Society Website,” and many anthologies.

Awards

Ledford received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her three poetry chapbooks and last year for her blog:  http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.  She won the 2012 Royce Ray Award from “Aires.”  Her poem, “Velma,” received the Editor’s Choice Award from “Reflections Literary Journal.”  Three of her poems won the 2012 Writers’ Ink Guild’s Poetry Contest and were published in Fields of Earth Anthology.

Her latest poetry chapbook, BECKONING, was endorsed by Glenda Beall, director of Writers Circle, and Robert King, publisher of FutureCycle Press.

Says Beall, “Brenda Kay Ledford’s collection sings with color and harmony.  She lets us take a peek into her world as she shares her Appalachian roots in verse. We relate to the constancy of seasons in nature and in our lives. Digging in the dirt as her mother does each spring preparing her garden, lifts the spirit, and decorating graves of loved ones on Memorial Day perpetuate the love of generations. Throughout the snow, first greening of spring, summer’s roses, autumn’s harvest, and star-studded asters, the images in the book offer the reader the opportunity to feel, see, hear, and taste the beauty as well as the inevitable sadness of life.”

Ledford’s book, BECKONING, is available at the Clay County Chamber of Commerce and online at:  www.finishinglinepress.com and www.amazon.com.

Brenda Kay Ledford, Featured at Coffee with the Poets at Blue Mountain Restaurant

Join us for Coffee with the Poets, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 10. Blue Mountain Restaurant on the corner of Hwy 141 and Old Hwy 64 hosts this event each month. The restaurant is between Murphy and Hayesville, NC. The public is invited to attend.

Brenda Kay Ledford, author of Beckoning

Our featured reader for the month of April is Brenda Kay Ledford, author of a new poetry book, Beckoning, published by Finishing Line Press. 
Her book is available locally at the Clay County Chamber of Commerce; Hayesville, NC; and online: www.amazon.com and www.finishinglinepress.com
Brenda Kay’s work has appeared in many publications including Yesterday’s Magazette, Our State, Pembroke Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, Broad River Review (Gardner-Webb University), Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, The Reach of Song, and other journals and anthologies. Ledford co-authored the book, Simplicity, with her mother, Blanche L. Ledford.

She’s listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers and is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network West, North Carolina Poetry Society, Georgia Poetry Society, and Byron Herbert Reece Society.

Ledford received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her three poetry chapbooks.

April is poetry month and there is no finer way to celebrate than attending Coffee with the Poets, now in its seventh year. Open Mic is for anyone who brings a poem or short prose piece.

This program is sponsored by NCWN West. For more information contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441.

What makes a good blog? Hope Clark has the answer,

“Every piece of content you write on a blog has to either solve
a problem or entertain the reader.”  Hope Clark

Hope Clark is someone I greatly admire. Her blogs and her newsletters are food for writers, in my opinion. So when she says a blog must either solve a problem or entertain the reader, I know she is right.

My Writers Circle blog is designed to give writers information about workshops and classes and the writers who teach at my home studio. At times, I throw in a post on the craft or my opinion.

Writing Life Stories has been all over the place since the beginning. It has changed in theme and content, but that is because I have changed since the blog was started in 2007. Many of my readers manage a blog or many blogs on various subjects. I understand that a blog concentrated on a theme like quilting, chicken farming, or single mothers raising kids, that discuss the problems and offer solutions is going to have a large audience. Those blogs require a concentrated schedule and plan I think. That might be too much work for me at this time in my life.

How I became a blogger and Netwest Writers was Born

It was fall of 2007 at a panel discussion at a writers conference that I realized what a blog was and what it could do. A young mother had written a book on stay at home moms working from home and she found out she could sell more of her books on a blog than by going through a New York Publisher. On the panel were three other writers who had found success from writing a blog.

I came home and told my husband I was going to learn how to blog, not for myself, but for the writers and poets in our chapter of NCWN. I had taken the job of Program Coordinator for NCWN West. Nancy Simpson and I had often talked about the problem of getting the voices of mountain writers in our area over the ridges and past the ranges into the rest of the world. I believed a blog was better than a website. A website at that time was static and unchanging. A blog gave us freedom to share new material everyday if we wanted. And the blog was free!

I was scared. After all, I didn't know anything about this new technology. Would our members accept this and use it? Would it do what I hoped it would? Soon I was holding classes on blogging and some of our members, Brenda Kay Ledford, Nancy Simpson, Carol Thompson, and Sam Hoffer began their own sites. What pleased me the most was that all of us were beyond the young stage. We were all over fifty. It wasn’t long before Netwest member and Poet Laureate of North Carolina, Kathryn Stripling Byer created a blog. When she became Program Coordinator for Netwest, she brought readers from everywhere to the Netwest blog.

I have been disappointed that more of our members have not used the Netwest Writers blog. We have a number of authors listed who have the capability to write posts and other members can ask for and get permission to post on the blog. It was created for our members.

I am so thankful, however, that Netwest Writers blog has been successful in promoting our writers and helping them reach across the state and around the world. We have readers from many different countries every day.

Nicki Leone, president of the NCWN Board of Trustees at that time built a website for the state organization and plopped our Netwest blog right on the front page. Since they have thousands of visitors every single day, those visitors saw us here in the mountains, clicked on our blog with little effort and read about our writers and our poets and playwrights. The voices of our writers have indeed reached beyond the mountains.

Where do we go from here?
I hope that other members of Netwest will post articles that appeal to readers. One of our members said the blog had simply become a bulletin board of upcoming events. We need to change that. We need posts that will keep us worthy of exposure on the home page of the NCWN website. We need an administrator who will help keep the blog on the radar of the search engines. Who out there is ready to do that?

Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories at JCCFS, Thursday Evening June 16

Reading this month at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, are two long time members of NCWN West. Glenda C. Beall and Brenda Kay Ledford.
The reading begins at 7:00 PM at the Keith House.  Everyone is invited to attend and we hope you will.There is no admission charge.

Glenda Council Beall lives in Hayesville, NC. Glenda finds memories come to surface in her writing. Many of her poems, such as Clearing New Ground, from her poetry chapbook, are narratives that tell stories she remembers from childhood.
She is a multi-genre writer, but she first began publishing poetry in 1996, shortly after moving to the mountains. Her poems have appeared in literary journals such as Main Street Rag, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Appalachian Heritage, Red Owl Magazine, and online in Wild Goose Poetry Review. One of her poems was chosen for Kakalak, North Carolina Poets, 2009.
Glenda’s poetry can be found in numerous and various anthologies including the recently released, Women’s Spaces, Women’s Places, and in From Freckles to Wrinkles from Silver Boomer Books. In 2009, her poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press. Two poems from that book were recently re-published online by Future Cycle Press. Her poems will also appear in the Poetry Hickory anthology for 2010.
Her short stories have been published in online journals, Muscadine Lines; A Southern Journal and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Her personal essays have been published in Echoes across the Blue Ridge, Reunion Magazine, and in Cup of Comfort for Horse Lovers.
Breath and Shadow, an online journal will publish a non-fiction article, Pass it on,  in their July issue.

Glenda is past Program Coordinator for North Carolina Writers Network West, and now serves as Clay County Representative for Network West.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, she earned her BS degree in education. She began studying writing in 1996, attending classes taught by teachers in the writing program at the Folk School. She has attended workshops and writing conferences through the North Carolina Writers’ Network for fifteen years and has learned the ends and outs of writing and publishing. When she isn’t working on her own poems and stories, she enjoys teaching others the joy of writing.  She is on faculty at John C. Campbell Folk School and will teach a writing class this summer, August 21 – 27. She is Director of Writers Circle, a writing studio at her home.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a native of Clay County, NC. Her work has appeared in many publications including Yestersdays Magazette, Our State, Pembroke Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, Broad River Review (Gardner Webb University), Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, The Reach of Song and other journals and anthologies. She is listed with  A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers and is a member of North Carolina Writers' Network West, North Carolina Poetry Society, Georgia Poetry Society and Byron Herbert Reece Society.

Ledford received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her three poetry chapbooks. She co-authored the book, "Simplicity," with her mother, Blanche L. Ledford.
Ledford's readings are  performances.  She is a story teller as well as a poet and writer and you never know what surprise she has for her audience.

Thursday evening, June 16, promises to be an evening of fun for those who enjoy writing and writers. .