Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets and Writers

Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets  and Writers on August 10 at Moss Memorial Library

Catherine Carter, professor at Western Carolina University

 Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Catherine Carter on Wednesday, August 10, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.

The event is free and open to the public.  An open mic will follow the presentation.  Bring a poem or short prose piece of about three minutes to participate.  CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West (NCWN-W), which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Catherine Carter is now a professor of English at Western Carolina University.  On a good day, she can roll a whitewater kayak and re-queen a beehive; on less good days, she collects stings, rock-rash, and multiple contusions. 

Catherine also "enjoys cooking, especially vegetable and beans, because it's probably the original human art and it produces something everyone can enjoy; and I'd probably enjoy some kind of crafting if I weren't a complete clutz with my hands; I get Wordle most of the time but not always."

Catherine Carter’s collections of poetry with LSU Press include The Memory of Gills (2006) The Swamp Monster at Home (2012), and Larvae of the Nearest Stars (2019); she has one chapbook with Jacar Press, Marks of the Witch. 

Her poetry has won the North Carolina Literary Review’s James Applewhite Prize, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Award, Jacar Press’ chapbook contest; it has also appeared in Orion, Poetry, Ecotone, RHINO, North American Review, Southern Humanities Review, Poetry South, Tar River Poetry, and Ploughshares, among others.  

Coffee With the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022.  Masks are optional.  

Please do not park in the Book Store parking lot. 

For more information, contact Joan Howard, joanhoward121@gmail.com

Ricketson and Davis Featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Mary Ricketson

            Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Mary Ricketson and writer James F. Davis on Wednesday, November 20, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. 

The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

            Ricketson, from Murphy NC, is inspired by nature and by her work as a mental health counselor. Her poetry is published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Speckled Trout, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, Voices, and Disorgananza. Her work also includes her chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name as well as three full length collections, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, and her newest, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian, published  in 2019.

            She writes a monthly column, “Women to Women,” for The Cherokee Scout.  She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice and is also an organic vegetable, herb, and blueberry farmer.

James Davis

            James Davis lives in Clay County, NC. He is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, Ridgeline Literary Alliance, North Georgia Writer's Club, and the Mountain Area Story Tellers. He won second place in a national literary contest. Most of his writing and stories have a humorous bent about personal experiences with people he met.

            Davis grew up working on a family farm. He earned a degree in economics from Cornell University. He earned an MBA in International Affairs and Business and served three years in the Army, leaving as a Captain. The major part of his working life was spent as an international banker.

            He traveled to over fifty countries while living in Europe and Latin America. Through his profession, he had the opportunity to meet world leaders.  Davis served as an elected representative for twenty years in Darien, CT. 

               For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

by Carroll S. Taylor, CWPW publicity chair and author of The Chinaberry Summer Series

Barrett and Paine Featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers October 16

 

        

Glenda Barrett

Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Glenda Barrett and writer/ storyteller Roy Paine on Wednesday, October 16, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

        Glenda Barrett is a native of Hiawassee, Georgia. She writes poems and essays that have been published yearly since 1997, including Woman's World, Country Woman, Now & Then Magazine, and Journal of Kentucky Studies. She is the author of two books, a chapbook titled When the Sap Rises, published by Finishing Line Press, and a full-length poetry book titled The Beauty of Silence, published by Aldrich Press.

        Glenda is an avid reader and also a visual artist. Her artwork is online at Fine Art America. She is retired from healthcare and feels fortunate to be able to do the things she loved as a child, painting and writing. She lives in Hiawassee with her husband of forty-six years.

Roy Paine

 

        Roy Paine was raised near Boston and lived his entire life within ten miles of his birthplace, except for four years when he was in the military. He served in the US Navy from 1981-1985 attaining the rank of Petty Officer Second Class (E5). During his time in the Navy, he earned the Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.

        He moved to the mountains in Nantahala National Forest of North Carolina in 2016, and the relaxing atmosphere immediately inspired him to write. Besides writing stories, Roy likes telling them through the spoken word story as an art form. He won first place in the Amateur Division at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival in Woodruff, South Carolina in 2017.

        Roy published his first book Bumbly Bee Can't Fly in December of 2017. When he is not writing, he enjoys hiking, camping, and fishing.

        For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

 

Submitted by Carroll S. Taylor

Carroll Taylor and Don Long featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Donald E. Long

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, (CWPW) will feature poet Donald E. Long and author Carroll S. Taylor on Wednesday, August 21, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC

The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Born in Sebring, Florida, Don Long and his wife, Marti, feel at home in Cherokee County where they have a home and spend part of each year. Long has degrees in Psychology and Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a commercial pilot license for airplanes and helicopters. 

After two years of college, he enlisted in the Army where he earned a commission and was trained to fly airplanes and helicopters. This led to two one-year tours in Vietnam flying helicopters.

After retirement from the military, Long worked for the federal government in the United States and Germany, with short forays into Bosnia, Croatia, and Macedonia. 

Starting in his teen years and throughout adulthood he has written poetry. His poems have been used in citizenship swearing-in ceremonies and Florida Flag Day ceremonies. One of his poems was featured at the 2013 Florida Convention for Vietnam Helicopter Pilots. His story about Vietnam has appeared in two different military anthologies and was featured in VHPA Aviator Magazine.

Carroll Taylor

Carroll S. Taylor grew up in rural West Central Georgia. A graduate of Tift College (Mercer University), she holds graduate degrees in French, English, and Educational Leadership. She retired after teaching for over forty years. She is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side. Her books emphasize generational storytelling and her love for reptiles and amphibians, especially snakes. 

She and her husband retired to Hiawassee, Georgia where she has embraced the writing community and she volunteers to do publicity for Coffee with the Poets and Writers. She’s always looking for adventures, whether it’s standing on Prime Meridian, studying in Oxford, watching alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp, touring the Scottish Highlands, or taking pictures of flowers and critters.

She is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, and is serving as co-chair for A Day for Writers 2019, the writing conference August 24 in Sylva, NC.  She is also a member of the Georgia Poetry Society. Readers may find her journal blog at chinaberrysummer.com and follow her at facebook/chinaberrysummer.

For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

Joan Howard and Gene Hirsch are featured at CWPW June 19

Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poets Joan M. Howard and Eugene Z. Hirsch, MD, on Wednesday, June 19, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow their presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

           

Howard's poetry has been published in POEM, The Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry, the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, Victorian Violet, the Wayfarer and other literary journals.  She published the book Death and Empathy: My Sister Web in 2017. Her latest book is Jack, Love and the Daily Grail.

Howard is a former teacher with an MA in German and English literature.  She is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network West and North Carolina Writers Network.  She enjoys birding and kayaking on the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee, Georgia.

           

Hirsch has taught clinical medicine for forty years. During his career he volunteered at the Cleveland Free Medical Clinic, conducted poetry workshops for health professionals as a way of dealing with emotional stresses of patient care, and lectured medical students on death and dying. He has published two poetry books and assembled six anthologies. Dr. Hirsch has been a valuable asset to the local writing community for twenty-five years. His poetry has appeared in medical and non-medical journals. He received First Prize in the 2019 Westmoreland Cultural Society He instituted and taught poetry at the John C. Campbell Folk School and co-founded the NCWN-West with poet Nancy Simpson with whom he was a close friend for many years. Hirsch professes that Murphy, North Carolina, is his second home (perhaps even his first).

            For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

Brent Martin, poet, and Angela Faye Martin, singer-songwriter, to be featured at CWPW, Wednesday, September 19, 2018, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, at 10:30 AM, the NCWN-West’s Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Brent Martin. Martin’s wife, Angela Faye Martin, a singer-songwriter and artist will perform after Brent’s reading. CWPW is held at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. The reading and entertainment are free and open to the public, and an open mic will follow the reading and performance.

Brent Martin is the author of three chapbook collections of poetry, Poems from Snow Hill Road (New Native Press, 2007), A Shout in the Woods (Flutter Press, 2010), and Staring the Red Earth Down (Red Bird Press, 2014), and is a co-author of Every Breath Sings Mountains (Voices from the American Land, 2011) with authors Barbara Duncan and Thomas Rain Crowe   He is also the author of Hunting for Camellias at Horseshoe Bend,  a non-fiction chapbook published by Red Bird Press in 2015. 

Brent Martin’s poetry and essays have been published in the North Carolina Literary Review, Pisgah Review, Tar River Poetry, Chattahoochee Review, Eno Journal, New Southerner, Kudzu Literary Journal, Smoky Mountain News, and elsewhere. He lives in the Cowee community in western North Carolina where he and his wife Angela Faye Martin run Alarka Institute, a nature, literary, and art-based business that offers workshop and field trips.  He has recently completed a two-year term as Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the West.  

Angela Faye Martin is a singer-songwriter, artist, and naturalist, and has worked for The Wilderness Society, Georgia Forestwatch, Armuchee Alliance, and the Pacific Rivers Council. She has written and recorded two lP's and one EP - One Dark Vine, Anniversary, and Pictures from Home, which was produced by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse fame. She recently wrote and narrated the documentary, The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse, which is currently screening internationally at various film festivals and in the US.

When Angela Martin is not leading phenology and nature outings in the wilds of the Great Smoky Mountains, she is drawing 'tree portraits', writing songs, letters and spending time with her sagacious mutt, 'Isabella Queen of France.’

CWPW is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Association-West, which is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. For more information, please contact Glenda Beall at: 828-389-4447.

Local Poet, Joan M. Howard to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Joan M. Howard

Joan M. Howard will be the featured reader at CWPW, on June 20, 2018, at 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC. Howard's poetry has been published in POEM, The Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry, the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, Victorian Violet, the Wayfarer and other literary journals.  

Howard has two published books to date, the first, Death and Empathy: My Sister Web, published in 2017, is available on Amazon.com.  Her second book, Jack, Love and the Daily Grail, is available from Kelsay publications and Amazon.com. 

Howard is a former teacher with an MA in German and English literature and member of the North Carolina Writers' Network West and North Carolina Writers Network.  She enjoys birding and kayaking on the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge near Hiawassee, Georgia.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW), is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network West. The public is invited to attend, and there will be an open Mic following Howard’s reading.

For more information, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com or call at: 828-389-4441.