Popular local writers Brenda Kay Ledford and Caesar Campana are the featured readers at Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories Thursday, May 15. The reading, which starts at 7 p.m. in the Keith House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus, is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.
Brenda Kay Ledford
Brenda Kay Ledford is an award-winning author, poet, storyteller, blogger, and retired educator. Her work has appeared in many regional and national publications including “Good Old Days Magazine,” “Grit,” “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” “Our State Magazine,” “Asheville Poetry Review,” 54 Old Mountain Press anthologies and many other journals.
Ledford’s newest poetry book, “Persistent Trillium,” will be released in May of 2025 by Finishing Line Press. Her children’s illustrated books, “Christmas in Matheson Cove,” and “The Singing Convention,” both received the “Children’s Book Awards” from North Carolina Society of Historians.
Caesar Campana
Caesar Campana escaped the cold winters of New Jersey to study Shakespeare and play football at North Carolina State University before beginning his 40-year career teaching English in North Carolina and Florida high schools. He spends his retirement between homes in Palm Coast, FL, and Murphy, NC, writing short stories, poetry and novels. He has written eight books, five of them novels. His latest novel is “Frogs in a Midnight Marsh” which tells the story of 16-year-old Angelo Perduto as he travels the world searching for the lost souls of his parents, little sister and astronaut teacher.
Mary Jo Dyre of Murphy will serve as host. She is author of “Springheads” a novel combining elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and fantasy to create a story of self-discovery.
Poets and Writers Reading Poems and Stories (formerly The Literary Hour) is offered at the folk school 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/.
