Poets Staci Lynn Bell and Mary Ricketson to read at CWTPW, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Join us for Coffee With the Poets and Writers, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, at 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson St., Hayesville, NC. This month, we are featuring poets Staci Lynn Bell, and Mary Ricketson. This event is open to the public, and an open mic will follow the readings.

Staci Lynn Bell is a Chicago native who attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She relocated to South Florida, gaining popularity as a 25 year radio and television personality. Bell’s poetry and prose have also been published in Wild Goose Poetry, Wolf Warriors Anthology,and 234 Journal. She lives with the loves of her life, her two dogs, in Hayesville, NC.

Bell's poem, "Escape" has been published in Old Mountain Press Anthology, Wish You Were Here. Her poem, "Unanswered Prayers" has been accepted for publication in the fall edition of Kakalak 2016. Additionally, Bell's poem, "Time," won a bronze medal and her short story, "Cheyenne" won a silver medal in the North Carolina Cherokee and Clay County's Silver Arts 2016.

Mary Ricketson of Murphy NC, has been writing poetry for 20 years; to satisfy a hunger, to taste life down to the very last drop. She is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor. Her poetry has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Freeing Jonah, and her chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name. Mary's second poetry book is Hanging Dog Creek. 

 

Mary is the Cherokee County Representative for the North Carolina Writers Network-West, and is the president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance.

She won the gold medal for poetry in the 2011 Cherokee County Senior Games/Silver Arts and silver medal for 2012 and 2013, and first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest.

Ricketson writes a monthly column, "Women to Women", for The Cherokee Scout, Murphy's newspaper. She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, an organic blueberry farmer, and is currently working on a new collection of poetry.

 

This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network-West. For more information, please call Glenda Council Beall at 828-389-3733.

NCWN-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers will feature poet Don Long, on Wed., August 17, 2016 at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers meets monthly at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. On Wednesday, August 17, 2016, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Don Long of Cherokee County will be the featured North Carolina Writers' Network-West member who will read his poetry.

Long was born and raised in Sebring, Florida even though his Mother’s family hails from West North Carolina, East Tennessee, and North Georgia. After two years of college, Don enlisted in the army as a private. He was later commissioned and earned the chance to fly helicopters in Vietnam for two one-year tours.

He was the recipient of numerous awards including the Silver Star, Meritorious Service Medal, three awards of the Bronze star, the Purple Heart, two awards of the Valorous Unit Award, three awards of the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry w/palm, the Expert Infantryman Badge, and Master Army Aviator Wings.

While work situations prevented participation, based on his aviation expertise, he was invited by the state department (People to People program) to go to China (1987) and later, Czechoslovakia (1988), to help those countries improve their air traffic control system.

After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1988, Don worked with the Federal Government as a Safety Professional. He retired again in 2000 and began splitting his time between Winter Park, FL and Murphy, NC.

Starting in his teen years and all throughout his entire adult life Donald Long has written poems, mostly for his own enjoyment, but on request he sometimes wrote poems for special occasions. For a short while after retiring from the Army he had a business called “People Poems.” He wrote poems for others for a fee after they provided him pertinent information. The business was doing well, but he obtained a time-consuming position with the Government which necessitated closing the business.

Publication has not been his goal and he has made little effort to publish his poetry except in local newspapers. He writes poems for personal reasons and enjoys the challenge of using rhyme. One of his poems, “I’m Glad It’s Mine” has been used during citizenship swearing-in ceremonies in central Florida and for central Florida Flag Day ceremonies. Also, one of his combat stories was published in a compilation called “The Harsh and the Heart” and “Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories, Volume 2”.

Don’s long and illustrious career includes earning a BA in Psychology, MS in Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a Commercial Pilots license for airplanes and helicopters.

Recently, while in Washington, DC, his poem about Vietnam Veterans and the Flag was accepted for the Army Historical Archives. A veteran friend had told some at the Pentagon about the Vietnam Poem and the Pentagon asked for one. While at the Pentagon he also presented a copy of each to the Secretary of the Army.

Don Long has been married for 31 years to his wife Marti, and they have children and grandchildren spread out in Central Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and North Georgia.

Everyone is invited to hear this reading and to participate in the Open Microphone session that follows. A short discussion on publishing poetry will follow.

Writers and readers and those who like to listen to poetry will enjoy this program. Glenda Beall, a Clay County Representative for NCWN-West, facilitates this event each year from March – December. Join us for lunch after the meeting at Angelo’s on the square where we continue to socialize and talk about writing.

NCWN-West appreciates the Moss Library staff providing a room for us. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

For more information contact Glenda Council Beall, 828-389-4441.

Women’s Writer Joan Ellen Gage to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC, July 20, 2016, 10:30 AM

On July 20th, 2016, at 10:30 AM, North Carolina Writers’ Network-West member, Joan Ellen Gage, will read from her books at the Moss Memorial Library at Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Gage writes specifically for women, her writing is humorous, inspiring, and geared to midlife experiences as a woman. She highlights her writing with her, often comedic, photo-creations.

Joan’s books include Water Running Downhill, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader, Trinity’s Adventures in Imagination, and A Redhead Looks at 60. All Gage's books are available in paperback and in eBooks. 

For more information on this event, please contact the Moss Memorial Library at 828-389-8401.


Joan's blogs:

www.joanellengage.com
joanszoneblogalicious.wordpress.com
 

In case you missed Karen Paul Holmes & Bill Ramsey at Coffee with the Poets and Writers on June 15, 2016, enjoy some video excerpts

 

 Karen Paul Holmes reading at CWTP&W on June 15, 2016

 

Bill Ramsey reading at CWTP&W on June 15, 2016 

You can find other videos of these writers, and other NCWN'West writers, on the network's YouTube page, at: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu63wy0hyAFhgTPRo7by4og

In case you missed him, here is a video of Bob Grove reading a selection of his prose at Coffee With The Poets and Writers, May 18, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC.

Bob Grove

Here is a video of Bob reading a selection of his prose from the May 18, 2016 meeting of Coffee With the Poets and Writers, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. This program was sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network-West.

Prose writer Bob Grove to read at Coffee With the Poets and Writers, at the Moss Memorial Library, Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at 10:00 AM

This month, Coffee With the Poets and Writers welcomes Bob Grove. Bob is very entertaining, and will read some of his prose on Wednesday, May 18th, 2016, at 10:00 AM.


Coffee With the Poets and Writers meets every third Wednesday at 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, at 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. The reading will be followed by open mic and the public is invited to attend.

North Carolina Writers' Network-West sponsors Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Please be sure to attend and to bring a friend! Coffee and cookies will be provided. For more information, please call Glenda Beall at: 828-389-4441, or the Moss Memorial Library at: 828-389-3734.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Bob Grove now lives in the mountains of North Carolina. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at Kent State University and his Master of Science at Florida Atlantic University. His diversified curriculum enabled him to teach courses in English, journalism, creative writing, physics, chemistry, biology and psychology.

Bob has been an ABC-TV public affairs director, an on-air personality, and the founder and publisher of Monitoring Times magazine. A prose critique facilitator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network and an officer with the Ridgeline Literary Alliance, he has published seventeen books and hundreds of articles in sixteen national magazines.

Now retired after 35 years as founder of Grove Enterprises, an international supplier of radio communications equipment, Bob has more time to write. Most recently, he has published a mystery novella (Secrets of Magnolia Manor), his memoir (Misadventures of an Only Child), a collection of children’s stories (Adventures of Kaylie and Jimmy) and has written several flash fiction stories as well as some forgettable poetry. He has been awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in the Silver Arts literature competition.

Bob’s public readings are popular as a performance art form, typified by his annual December reading, in costume and dialect, of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

His collected writings on technical topics (Antenna Basics, Antenna Anthology and Ask Bob) are now available, as is his informative overview of deviant mental behavior (Abnormal Psychology) which he uses as a teaching text in continuing education classes.

All Bob’s publications are available on Amazon Kindle, and you are welcome to visit him at bobgrove.org.

 

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.

Highlights from North Carolina Writers Network-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers, March 16th, 2016, Hayesville, NC

In case you missed Coffee with the Poets and Writers, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers Network-West, on March 16, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC, here are some video excerpts from poet Joan M. Howard, and author Miriam Jones Bradley.

POET JOAN M. HOWARD

AUTHOR MIRIAM JONES BRADLEY

Be sure to join NCWN-West's Coffee with the Poets and Writers, on the third Wednesday of each month, at 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Hayesville, NC

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016, 10:00 AM

MOSS MEMORIAL LIBRARY

Our first meeting this year of Coffee with the Poets and Writers will feature two members of the North Carolina Writers’ Network West.  This event will be held at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson St, Hayesville, NC 28904.

Joan Howard, well-published poet from Hiawassee, Georgia will share her poetry with us.  Her poems have been published in the Aurorean, Miller's Pond, The Road Not Taken:The Journal of Formal Poetry, Lucid Rhythms, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Eclectic Muse, Victorian Violet, the Deronda Review, Our Pipe Dreams, The Lyric, GPS The Reach of Song, a chapbook, Red Fox Run, and POEM.

Miriam Jones Bradley, from Henderson County, NC, is the author of a children’s book series, The Double Cousins Mysteries, a memoir, All I Have Needed-A Legacy for Life, and You Ain’t From Here, Are Ya, Reflections on Southern Culture from an Outsider. Miram' link is: http://www.miriamjonesbradley.com/

The latter is a collection of articles by Bradley, from a South Carolina newspaper. She will read and speak about her writing experience.

Glenda Beall, a Clay County Representative for NCWN West, facilitates this monthly event each year from March – December. 

Everyone is invited. You can meet other writers, learn about writing events in the area and read a short prose piece or a couple of poems during Open Mic. There is no charge.

Join some of us for lunch after the meeting at Angelo’s on the square.

We appreciate the Moss Library providing a room for us. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network West which is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

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