Friends of the Library, Hendersonville, NC, present Martha O. Adams' program, The Power of Poetry, Thursday, April 21, 2016

One Year Anniversary

Congratulations to Lana Hendershott and Patricia Vestal. They combined their creative talents and have grown the Open Mic night poetry and prose reading held at the Hendersonville Public Library held on the third Monday evening of each month at 5:30 PM. This month, almost forty people were inspired and entertained by about 15 writers who gave brief readings of their work. The public is invited to join the fun. We thank Lana and Pat for the effort they made to make this work. 

To tell a friend about the Open Mic, click here.

Sent to us by Bill Ramsey, co-author of Me Now, Who Next, who was featured at the recent Blue Ridge Bookfest.

Special Presentation of POEMSCAPES on April 11

Carol Pearce Bjorlie will read, play the cello, and collaborate with photographer, Ruthie Rosauer at the Hendersonville, NC library on Friday, April 11, at 2:00 pm.

Carol and Ruthie have developed, POEMSCAPES, a landscape slide show/reading/performance event.

For more information, please contact Carol at:  bjorlie.carol@yahoo.com.

Anthology Reading in Hendersonville, NC

On Wednesday evening, November 3, six poets and authors from Henderson County read their work from the new anthology Echoes Across the Blue Ridge at the Henderson County Public Library in Hendersonville. A book sale and signing by the writers, who are all Netwest members, followed.

The evening was sponsored by the Friends of the Library, and Lana Hendershott, Netwest’s representative in Hendersonville, handled the publicity for the event. Tom Hooker, Susan Snowden, and Lana Hendershott read their short stories (fiction); Charlotte Wolff and Cecily Wells read their poems; and StarShield Lortie read her creative nonfiction piece.

It was a misty, chilly night and we wondered if anyone would attend. We were pleasantly surprised when more than fifty people turned out and received our work warmly.

Ten books were sold and the Friends of the Library presented the group with a check for $100 for the reading. The check was signed over to Netwest at the request of the six members who participated.



Lana dressed as character in her story



“We especially want to thank Lana Hendershott for her efforts to make the reading a success,” said Susan Snowden. “It’s not easy to get things published in the Hendersonville newspaper, but Lana stuck with it and we got great coverage.”

New Anthology Showcases Fourteen Women Writers of Henderson County

New Book Showcases Talent of
Fourteen Henderson County Women

A new Christmas anthology from Catawba Publishing features stories, poems and artwork from 14 Henderson County residents.
Titled Christmas Presence: from 45 western North Carolina women writers, the book includes holiday reflections, short fiction and poems. Edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, both of Asheville, the material in the collection is set in a range of locations—from Appalachia to wartime Britain.
Cover art for the book (front and back) is from original watercolors by long-time Hendersonville resident Nancy Elliott Irving. Henderson County authors and poets whose work appears in the book are Sherry Austin, Joan Blessing, Dare Ford, Marian Gowan, Lana Hendershott, Exie Henson, Jessica Heriot, Karen Jackson, Polly Kent, Martha O’Quinn, Susan Snowden, Tonya Staufer and Cecily Wells.
Women writers from Buncombe, Haywood and Transylvania counties also contributed to the anthology.
Christmas Presence may be purchased at area book stores or by ordering from Catawba Publishing in Charlotte (http://www.catawbapublishing.com/; 704-717-8452). 221 pages; $18; ISBN 978-1-59712-259-7. For more information contact the editors at celiamiles@fastmail.fm or nandilly@earthlink.net.

submitted by: Susan Snowden ssnowden1@juno.com

Top Ten Reasons I Have Enjoyed Being Program Coordinator for Netwest

1. I was able to bring onboard a corporate sponsor, United Community Bank, Inc..

2. I have been delighted to give something back to Netwest. We are steadily increasing our membership.

3. I’ve met and discussed Netwest with people throughout NC, and I’ve participated in exciting writing events and spoken to eager audiences of writers.

4. With the addition of Henderson County to our membership, I had the opportunity to meet the writers there, appoint a county representative and play a part in helping them build a writing community.

5. Working with our past and present leaders we revised a set of guidelines, drafted in 2003, which makes Netwest more independent without breaking from the North Carolina Writers’ Network. This was sorely needed.

6. One of the goals I had as Program Coordinator was to reach out to all the counties included in the membership of Netwest and let them know they are Netwest members just as much as members in Cherokee and Clay County.

7. For many years I had heard “we get nothing for our dues” from some members. I was able, in this past year, to give our members several low cost workshops by top writing instructors, to promote the work of deserving writers, to give computer classes to members at low or no cost, to start a Netwest blog and give our members’ work an outlet to the world.

8. I worked as a volunteer at the Spring Conference in Winston-Salem and found that NCWN needs volunteers and will offer an incentive to members who help out. I appreciate Ed Southern and Virginia Freedman giving me the chance to help with registration.

9. I’ve found working with Nicki Leone, President of NCWN, to be a joy and I admire her for her dedication to writers and to writing.

10. In my position as Program Coordinator, I now realize this is indeed a position which requires dedication and commitment. A PC must be visible, be active, and must respond to every phone call and email from members, possible members, writing instructors, from those who have published books, from those who want to publish books, from those who need the address of a fellow writer, from those who failed to check the calendar or just think it is easier to call the PC.

Part of the Program Coordinator’s job is to welcome new members, writers from out of town, make flyers, publicize and set up readings, contact and remind writers of the dates they read. Beg for volunteers to help when needed, work closely with all newspaper editors so they will happily print our news and calendar announcements, raise funds for special projects, and get to know our Indie book stores who are important to us as writers. And do all this with a smile. To many, the Program Coordinator is the face of Netwest.

10. The best part of being a Program Coordinator for Netwest is seeing our image, a mountain writer’s group, become respected and admired throughout the state of NC and beyond.
To see our members succeed and grow as writers, to see their work appreciated by others, to be their voices when they want to share good news, and know that I had some small part in making this happen, this is the best part.

Glenda Beall

Bob Greenwald co-chairs grand writing event in 2009

LITERARY SHOWCASE COMING TO HENDERSONVILLE

The Blue Ridge Book & Author Showcase is set to assemble a substantial cross-section of highly regarded writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children's books, many of them residing here in the North Carolina western mountains. Event dates are May 8-9, 2009. The gala celebration of authorship and creative writing will be staged in the magnificent new Technical Education & Development Center on the campus of the Blue Ridge Community College.

Free and open to the public, the event is planned and staffed entirely by volunteers. A diverse program of presentations by literary luminaries will be headlined by Henderson County native son and honorary chairman, Robert Morgan, along with keynoter Sharon McCrumb, North Carolina Poet Laureate Kay Stripling Byer, and widely applauded author, storyteller and balladeer, Sheila Kay Adams. Some 15 other popular authors and playwrights will present their works and discuss their writing experiences as they made their way on the typically long and challenging road to successful publishing.
There will be program components appealing to children, students, and their families. There will be lots of opportunities for shop talk, networking and socializing. Ample time during the program is set aside for the reading public to engage authors in one-on-one interaction.
Of special interest to commercially published and self-published authors who are not presenters is a display table program to accommodate a limited number of applicants who will be able to sell and sign their books and to interact with the reading public. The exhibit spaces will line the perimeter corridors of the venue's huge conference hall. All book sales will be channeled through a central point of purchase station operated by Malaprops Bookstore of Asheville.
The event is being financed in part through grant applications and in part through individual and business sponsorships. Principal sponsoring partners in early support of the program include the Henderson County Travel & Tourism Department, the Blue Ridge Community College, the Henderson County Education Foundation, and the area's daily newspaper, the Times-News. Other cooperating partners include the North Carolina Writers' Network and the NCWN West chapter of that organization, the Writers' Network of Asheville, and the Together We Read program to promote reading in the state's western counties.
Detailed information is available on request by contacting Bob Greenwald, Co-chair, 154 Timber Creek Road, Hendersonville, NC 28739; 828-698-1550, or email to patnbob2@gmail.com.

Hendersonville Writers met with Ed Southern

At lunch, Ed and Glenda Beall met with Lana Hendershott, Susan Snowden, Nancy Purcell and Bob Greenwald to discuss writing in Henderson

County.

Ed Southern, Executive Director for NCWN, gave the Network a face for writers in Henderson, Transylvania, and Haywood Counties at a meeting at the Henderson County Library on June 16.

Everyone appreciated his answering the many questions members and non-members asked about NCWN and his vision for the future.

Some quotes from those attending are " This was a good meeting. Maybe we can have another, maybe quarterly."

It was an excellent way for local writers to meet each other and make plans to form groups, readings and other events in the area.

Nancy Purcell who has been a Netwest Rep in Transylvania country for a couple of years, was delighted to meet possible leaders for Netwest in Henderson County. Her hope is to hold a couple of big writing workshops each year in Brevard and in Hendersonville.

What do you folks in those towns think about that idea?

Just click on comments at the bottom of this post and let us know.

Photos by Barry Beall

Thank you, Hendersonville Writers. It was fun meeting many of the Netwest members I've been conversing with by email. Thanks also to Nancy Purcell from Brevard, JC Walkup and John Malone from Haywood county, Gary Carden from Jackson County and Bob Greenwald from Henderson county who shared with our guests.
Today was a good day, not only for me and for NCWN and Netwest, but I know the writers who came, connected with other local writers will find their lives enriched in the future.
As writers we all need community. We need to talk with other writers, share with other writers and bounce ideas off each other. I see the writers in Henderson county coming together in future writing events. Netwest will be there to help make this possible.

Writers in Henderson, Transylvania and other counties in the Netwest area are invited to the Henderson county library, Monday, June 16, 5:30 pm. Ed Southern, Executive Director of the North Carolina Writers' Network and Glenda Beall, Program Coordinator of NCWN West will be there to talk and answer questions pertaining to the Network and Netwest. Nancy Purcell, Netwest Rep for Transylvania County, and Al Manning, Rep for Haywood County plan to be on hand to talk about what Netwest members and writers are doing in their areas. This is an effort to learn what writers want and how NCWN can help them meet their goals.