Writers Night Out, held at Young Harris College, Wilson Audititorium Friday night couldn't have been better. Nancy Simpson, author of the new poetry collection, Living Above the Frost Line, Carolina Wren, publisher, gave us a decided glimpse into her poetry for the past thirty years. Even though I have read all the poems in this book and many I had read before in her earlier books, Night Student and Across Water, I never tire of hearing her read them.

One of the reasons Nancy's poems have been published for so many years in most all of the best literary journals is because she knows what she is doing. She lives and breathes poetry and has for as long as I've known her and many years before. She has another book when she gets around to publishing it. And most of those poems have been published already.

The open mic portion of Writers Night Out had us laughing with Karen Holmes poetry and Ron Salzer's nutty essay. But the nicest thing was having two readers stand and share their work who had never done that before. I know that feeing of exhileration when you make that jump into standing before an audience for the first time.

Next month Writers Night Out will be held in Hiawassee at a new venue, a coffee shop, which I think will be cozy and bring out more of the community. Don't you think that will be nice?
Can't wait to go.

NEWS FROM ABOVE THE FROST LINE - BOOK CONTRACT SIGNED

As some of you know, I’ve been keeping a poetry website for the past fifteen months dedicated to promoting southern and Appalachian poets. It is free and all are welcome. It is not a formal web site but rather it’s a blog site with my main topic being poetry. It is called LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE. I set up this site during a NCWN West Saturday workshop in Oct. 2008. I had no grand goals then, no ulterior motives what so ever. I only wanted to promote the poetry of our poets writing in the mountains and some of them in other forgotten parts of the south. I was amazed at how easy it was to communicate with other writers, and I was thrilled by your response.

The growing seasons gets extended for those who dwell above the frost line. Extending the growth season is something I’ve experienced since first coming to Cherry Mountain in the southern Appalachian mountains. A companion idea is that one’s writing life can also be extended. It’s true. Never has it been more true than this year in December 2009. Just after the hard freeze, as the last of the flowers melted into the ground, word of my poems came back to me from the literary world.

Word came from Carolina Wren Press, Durham, North Carolina, that they will publish a collection of my poetry in the forthcoming spring titled Living Above the Frost Line - Selected and New Poems. It is to be the first book in their new Carolina Laureate Series and was chosen by NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer. The collection will span 32 years of my poetry writing career.

I signed my book contract on December 24th, and Janice Townley Moore, my long time poetry writing buddy, witnessed my signature. We met in the parking lot at Kerr Drug Store and sat there in my car laughing and saying “Who would have thought it?” and “On Christmas Eve.” Then I drove to the US Post Office in Hayesville and mailed the contract back to the press, imagining how on Christmas Eve, the contract might accidentally end up in Santa’s sled.

Today on the first day a the new year 2010, I find myself singing “Happy New Year” every time the phone rings, and I find myself more filled with hope than I have been in a long time.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to all of you Netwest Writers and to others reading and writing in the mountains.

Please visit when you get the time. http://www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com/