Hayesville Library to Host Local Writers Nov. 12 for Reading and Book Signing

You are invited:

 

Final Literary Hour for 2024 Features Benson and Plunkett

  The final Literary Hour of the 2024 season will feature local author Sandy Benson and poet David Plunkett reading from their most recent books.  The Literary Hour, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will meet in the Kieth House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. and is free and open to everyone.

Sandy Benson

Sandy Benson, a retired forester, is a non-fiction writer whose new book, “Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II,” is a collection of her father’s letters home from World War II.  In it, she chronicles the experiences of George David Geib, a pilot in the US Army Air Force during World War II.  His letters home vividly describe his training, travels, and wartime service, providing an authentic and detailed account of military life during that period.  In 2021 she published “My Mother’s Keeper: One Family’s Journey Through Dementia,” is a memoir written to help others understand and cope with the changes to a loved one brought on by the disease.

In addition to her books, she is also well-known as a local storyteller, appearing at gatherings and penning publicity releases for the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.  In 2023 and 2024 she received awards in the Cherokee/Clay Senior Games, Literary Arts Division, and in 2024 she placed third in the statewide competition, Life Experience category.  She and her husband, Barry, live in Warne, NC, with their two bossy dachshunds.

David Plunkett

David Plunkett is a novelist and poet who will be reading from and discussing his new collection of poems, “The Blue House.”  The poems in the collection address themes of loss and hope, life in the Georgia mountains, and the human need to be loved and remembered.  His poetry has appeared in North Carolina and national anthologies.  His two novels, “Chessboard” and “Poisoned Pawn” are thrillers set in the Middle East and deal with America’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the struggle to end the world’s dependence on oil.  Plunkett lives in Young Harris, GA, with his wife, Vickie.

Murphy, NC, author Mary Jo Dyre (“Springheads,” Redhawk Publications, 2023) will host the event.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered 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/.

Literary Hour Returns to J.C. Campbell School

  The Literary Hour returns to the J.C. Campbell Folk School March 16 at 7 p.m. with readings by popular local poet and storyteller Brenda Kay Ledford and local novelist David Plunkett.  The Literary Hour will continue every third Thursday of the month through September and is free and open to everyone.
Ledford, a Clay County, NC, native, will read from her poetry which draws on her love for the beauty, heritage, and history of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  Her poetry collection, “Blanche, Poems of a Blue Ridge Woman,” published by Redhawk Publishing, won the Paul Green Multimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians in 2022.
In addition to her award-winning poetry, she is the recipient of the Children’s Book Award for her picture book “The Singing Convention” and writes the Blue Ridge Poet blog which is dedicated to preserving the culture of Southern Appalachia through poetry, storytelling and writing.
Plunkett, who lives in Young Harris, GA, is the author of the espionage thrillers “Chessboard” and “Poisoned Pawn” published by Kindle Direct Publishing.  Readers have called “Chessboard” “intriguing and captivating,” and a well-researched book about “the shadow workings of our government.”  He will read selections from both novels and talk about his process for writing them.
The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and will continue every third Thursday of the month through November 16 at 7 p.m.
        The March meeting will be hosted by Murphy, NC, poet Mary Ricketson, who is president of the Ridgeline Literary Alliance and the 2011 winner of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest national poetry contest.
Ledford, Plunkett and Ricketson are members of the North Carolina Writer's Network-West.  The Literary Hour meets in the Living Room of the Keith House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus.  For more information you can contact Glenda Beall at glendabeall@msn.com.
The J.C. Campbell Folk School is located in Brasstown, NC, and 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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Writer and Poet David Plunkett to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

 Members of Mountain Wordsmiths are honored to have as our featured reader David Plunkett on Thursday morning, August 25, at 10:30 via Zoom. Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will continue its online Zoom presence because local writers as well as writers from other cities and states are now joining us each month online.

Plunkett is the author of two novels Chessboard (2019) and Poisoned Pawn (2022).  Readers of Chessboard call it “intriguing and captivating,” a “strong story… about human nature, the shadow workings of our government and terrorists in Afghanistan,” and an “accurate and believable… contemporary thriller.” His poems “North Carolina Mountains Shade to Blue” and “Saturday” were included in the most recent Old Mountain Press anthologies The Cataloochee Bridge and Oops.  Other poems “Kitner’s Dog” and “Moby Dick” and the short story “Evidence” were published in the scrivener.

As a journalist, Plunkett has won writing awards for reporting and feature writing from the Georgia Press Association and the Alabama Press Association.

As Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC, his professional writing has been published in law journals and magazines, as well as food industry newsletters, and was influential on national and state policies affecting food safety and consumer protection.

Plunkett began writing poetry and short stories in elementary school and continued to write for pleasure through college and law school, publishing several poems in various college student publications.

He hopes to close out the Chessboard series with a third novel tentatively titled Endgame. Other projects currently in the works are a chapbook of sonnets and other poems tentatively titled A Sonnet for My Wife and collections of his short stories and flash fiction.

Plunkett lives with his wife Vickie in Towns County, GA, just a long centerfield throw to home plate from Lake Chatuge and within walking distance of a curiously detached section of North Carolina.

NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. Also known as NetWest, our organization will offer writing events and writing classes online, while several writing groups are now meeting face-to-face again.

Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

By Carroll Taylor