Nov. 8: Last Writers' Night of 2019, Blairsville, GA, 7 pm

Diana Anhalt + Rosemary Royston + Open Mic

Please join us for the last Writers' Night Out of the year!

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Diana will read from her new book. 

Diana Anhalt of Atlanta (by way of Mexico) has two full-length  poetry collections, Walking Backward (Kelsay) and Because There Is No Return, (Passager), and two chapbooks, Second Skin, (Future Cycle) and Lives of Straw (Finishing Line). She has lived in Atlanta for nine years, yet her poems colorfully depict people and places in Mexico, where she lived most of her life. Many of her essays, short stories, and book reviews have appeared in both English and Spanish along with her non-fiction book, A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates in Mexico 1948-1965. Her poetry as also appeared in Nimrod, Concho River Review, The Connecticut River Review, The Atlanta Review, and Spillway, among many others.

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Rosemary Royston of Blairsville has been a Writers' Night Out favorite with her intelligent and interesting poems and compelling reading style. She's a lecturer and Vice President for Planning & Research at Young Harris College, where she periodically teaches a creative writing course. Author of Splitting the Soil (Finishing Line Press), her poetry has also been published or is forthcoming in journals such as Split Rock Review, Southern Poetry Review, Appalachian Heritage, Poetry South, KUDZU, NANO Fiction, and *82 Review.

After this event, Writers' Night Out will take a break for the winter and resume in April, 2020 on the second Friday of every month. To be considered as a featured reader of poetry or prose, please contact Karen Paul Holmes (kpaulholmes AT g mail dot com) who will begin working on the schedule in January. 

Here's a link to the Union County Community Center. Sign up at the door to read at open mic for 3 minutes of poetry or prose. Come early if you'd like to enjoy The View Grill. You can bring drinks to the room where the reading takes place. 

Karen Paul Holmes Featured on The Writer's Almanac

Garrison Keillor Recited "Rental Cottage, Maine" on October 16, 2019

In what Karen Paul Holmes calls her "poetry dream come true," the popular daily audio program The Writer's Almanac selected a poem from her second book, No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin 2018). Keillor, host of the long-running Prairie Home Companion, has a voice immediately recognized by his worldwide fans.  You can hear this poem as well as all his broadcasts at GarrisonKeillor.com.

Karen's first book was Untying the Knot (Aldrich, 2014). Chosen a Best Emerging Poet, three of her poems appeared in Stay Thirsty Media's 2019 poetry volume with well-loved poets such as Billy Collins. Karen's other publications include Prairie Schooner, Valparaiso Review, Tar River Poetry, Poet Lore, and many journals and books, including two anthologies of Georgia poets. 

She founded and hosts The Side Door Poets in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Blairsville, GA. A freelance business writer, she also teaches writing classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, Writer’s Circle in Hayesville, NC, and other venues. Lake Chatuge and the mountains inspire much of her poetry, which also includes stories of personal joys and losses.

Join Karen the weekend of Valentine's Day, 2020 when she teaches "Love Songs & Poetry" at the Folk School. 

The next Writers' Night Out is November 8 at 7 pm at the Union County Community Center, Blairsville. Rosemary Royston and Diana Anhalt are featured. Sign up for open mic at the door (3 minutes of poetry or prose). 

To learn more about Karen's work, visit www.karenpaulholmes.com .