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/.

Dates and Readers for 2019, for The Literary Hour, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC

Here are the readers and dates for the updated 2019 Literary Hour readings, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC. You will notice that most months will have 3 readers, our best attempt to accommodate everyone who asked to read, so we have two months that can add another reader. We will start promptly at 7:00 PM, finishing by 8:00 or 8:15 PM.

Please contact Mary Ricketson for issues regarding this event at: maryricketson311@hotmail.com.

Wed, 3-20-19         Joan Howard

                                    Natalie Grant

                                    Mary Ricketson

Wed, 4-17-19          Bob Grove

                                    Carroll Taylor

                                    Joan Gage

Wed, 5-15-19          Carol Lynn Jones

                                    Kanute Rarey

                                    Rosemary Royston

Wed, 6-12-19          Brenda Kay Ledford

                                    Richard Cary

                                    Maren Mitchell

Thurs, 8-22-19       Karen Paul Holmes

                                    Carol Crawford

                                    Kenneth Chamlee

Thurs, 9-19-19       Martha O. Adams

                                    Loren Leith

                                    Glenda Barrett

Thurs, 10-17-19     Mary Mike Keller

                                    Glenda Beall

Thurs, 11-21-19      Janice Moore

                                    Linda Jones

The Literary Hour Readings for October 18, 2018, at the JCCFS, Brasstown, NC, will feature writers Glenda Barrett, Lucy Cole Gratton, and Mary Michelle Brodine Keller

On Thursday October 18, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School and NC Writers' Network-West will sponsor The Literary Hour. At this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus, in Brasstown, NC. The Literary Hour is held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated. This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month's featured readers will be Glenda Barrett, Lucy Cole Gratton, and Mary Michelle Brodine Keller.

Glenda Barrett, a native of Hiawassee, Georgia, is a poet, writer, and visual artist. Her work has been widely published since 1997 and has appeared in: Woman's World, Farm & Ranch Living, Country Woman, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Journal of Kentucky Living, Nantahala Review, Rural Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Kaleidoscope Magazine and many more. Barrett is the author of two poetry books, When the Sap Rises, published by Finishing Line Press, in 2008 and The Beauty of Silence, published by Aldrich Press, in 2017. Both books are available on Amazon.com. Glenda's artwork is online at Fine Art America.

Lucy Cole Gratton is a retired CPA, moving to the mountains after retirement.  She was the Cherokee Representative for NCWN-West for five years.  She facilitated the program at John Campbell Folk School during that time.  She has written for many years but only in the past ten years has she been active in Poetry Critique and Prose Critique.  She has read at the Folk School many times.  Her poems have been published in various media including on-line, print, her college magazine and various small publications to which she enjoys.  Her focus is predominantly centered around the environment, incidents and images of her home of 35 acres of woods on Lake Apalachia outside Murphy NC.  She has lived there for 20 years and is in the process of moving to Stone Mountain outside of Atlanta GA.

Mary Michelle Brodine Keller, or Mary Mike as she is often called by her friends, writes poetry, essays and short fiction. She draws her subject matter from things she sees or experiences, putting meaning to them. She is also a visual artist, painting in oil, water color and pastels.  She likes to think of her poetry as painting with words. Her poems have been published in The Mountain Lynx, and in anthologies: Freeing Jonah III and IV, Lights in the Mountains, Echos Across the Blueridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains and various other publications. She calls herself a reader. She reads to others in a variety of settings. She finds that more satisfying than publication, as it is a shared experience.