This Friday Night, Nov 10 Writers' Night Out

Award-Winning Writers

Dana Wildsmith & Christopher Martin

Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA

7 pm

followed by Open Mic

(limit 3 minutes of poetry or prose)

Brought to you by NCWN-West and hosted by Karen Paul Holmes

Nov 10: Final Writers' Night of 2017, Blairsville, GA

Christopher Martin & Dana Wildsmith

plus open mic 

(sign up at door to read 3 mins of poetry or prose... leave us wanting more)

Featuring award-winning writers
at Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA

Writers' Night Out Oct 13, Blairsville, GA

Mary Michelle Keller and Natalie Grant Featured
+ Open Mic

Please join us this Friday night at the Union County Community Center.

The next day, Oct 14, all are invited to the Georgia Poetry Society meeting at the Choestoe Schoolhouse in Blairsville, 9:30-3:30. See the GPS website for more info.

NCWN-West and Georgia Poetry Society Team Up for Two Events

An exciting weekend is in store in Blairsville, Georgia (a lovely mountain community on the border of NC)

October 13: Writers' Night Out, 7 pm

October 14: Georgia Poetry Society meeting (non-members welcome), 9:30 am-3 pm

Writers' Night Out features two local writers, Mary Michelle Keller and Natalie Grant.

Open mic follows - sign up at the door to read poetry or prose for 3 minutes. 

Union County Community Center in the heart of Blairsville, GA. Food and drink available (self-pay) at the View Grill - please arrive by 6 pm if you're having dinner. 

The Georgia Poetry Society quarterly meeting takes place at the Choestoe Schoolhouse, Blairsville. 

Featured presenters: Georgia poets Travis Denton and Katie Chaple. NC poets, Tina Barr and Brett Martin

The day includes presentations on craft, hands-on writing exercises, poetry contest announcements, and an open mic—plus the camaraderie and good spirits of fellow writers. Breakfast items will be provided, and lunch from G & G Bakery and Café will be available for purchase on site. While the meeting will be geared toward poetry enthusiasts, all writers are welcome. More info here: GPS Fall meeting. If you plan on having lunch, please RSVP to Lyn Hopper by Oct. 10 at gpstreas@gmail.com 

Holmes & Krawiec at Writers' Night Out, September 8

Please join us for this reading featuring poet, author, playwright and founder of Jacar Press, Richard Krawiec, and poet, Karen Paul Holmes. Share your work at open mic, too!  Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA 

Richard will also teach at Writers Circle in Hayesville the next day. See Glenda Beall's Writers Circle Blog for more information.

July 14 Writers' Night Out Features Philip Levine Prize Winner

Featured Readers plus Open Mic

Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA 

Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford to read at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, on Thursday, June 15, 2017

JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and North Carolina Writers' Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This event is held regularly on the third Thursday the month. The reading is free of charge and the public is invited to attend. Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford will be the featured readers, both of which are widely published poets. This should be an excellent program and presents an exceptional opportunity to hear these two women read their poems, many of which are centered on the mountain area.

Karen Paul Holmes was selected for Best Emerging Poets, 2015 (Stay Thirsty Media), and her full-length poetry collection, Untying the Knot,was published by Aldrich Press in 2014 (available on Amazon.com). Her poems have appeared in journals, such as Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Poetry East, and Atlanta Review, and anthologies such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol 5: Georgia. Holmes serves as the Towns County Representative for the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and is a member of the Georgia Poetry Society.

Formerly the VP-Communications at ING, Holmes now works as a freelance writer and teaches writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School, Writers Circle, and elsewhere. She’s inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake Chatuge, and her home in Hiawassee, GA. Holmes supports writers through a critique group she started in Atlanta, and the Writers Night Out she founded/hosts in Blairsville on the second Friday of every month.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School, earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University, and received a diploma of highest honors in creative writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford’s work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Woman’s World, Country Extra, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Angels on Earth, 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies and Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition coffee-table book.

Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that won the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has received this award nine times for her books, collecting oral history on Southern Appalachian and on her blogs: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.She also won the North Carolina Press Association’s Journalism Contest Award for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1999.

Ledford is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and Who’s Who in America. She has appeared on the “Common Cup,” talk show on Windstream Communication’s cable television, and also was interviewed on “The Blue Sky Show” over WJUL/WJRB Radio Station and gives regional poetry readings.

Don't Miss Glenda at Writers' Night Out, June 9

Please note, we'll meet upstairs in rm 201,  Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA

The View Grill Now Open before Writers' Night Out

Diana Anhalt - Friday, May 12

7 p.m. 

followed by open mic

1st floor conference room

Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA

And... here's a word from The View Grill's new management:

Join us Friday, May 12 to celebrate Mother's Day with The View's first ever Grand Buffet! This spectacular feast will include Prime Rib, Crab Legs, Peel-n-Eat Shrimp, Oysters on the Half Shell, Herb Baked Chicken, Broiled Fish, and various sides, salads, and desserts. All you can eat, including non-alcoholic beverages, for only $25.99! Buffet served from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Regular menu not available for this special event.

Writers' Night Out, Blairsville, 2017 Schedule

Here's the revised schedule of distinguished readers. There's always an open mic too. 

The View Grill is open for dinner or refreshment -- arrive by 6 p.m. to be served.  

Writers' Night May 12: Viva México and more...

"Diana's poems leap with the color and music of Mexico, where she spent most of her life."

A former resident of Mexico—Diana Anhalt’s parents moved there from New York in 1950 in order to escape possible persecution during the McCarthy era­—she now lives in Atlanta. 
 
Her poetry books are Because There is No Return (Passager), Second Skin (Future Cycle), and Lives of Straw (Finishing Line). Her work's been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Nimrod,  The Comstock Review, Atlanta Review, and many other literary journals. She's also the author of the non-fiction book, A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates in Mexico 1948-1965 (Archer Books), as well as essays and book reviews published in both English and Spanish. She says, "I'm waiting for my writing to acquire a southern accent." 

Writers' Night Out Features Newton Smith & Robert Lee Kendrick

Our 2017 Season Opens on April 14 in Blairsville, GA

You're invited to hear poems from two Ph.D. poets who have new, highly acclaimed books: Newton Smith will read from his Camino Poems: Reflections on the Way, and Robert Lee Kendrick from his Winter Skin. After the featured readers, there's an open microphone for anyone wanting to share their own poems or prose. All this takes place at 7 pm on April 14 at the beautiful Union County Community Center. Please note, we will be meeting in a first floor conference room this month rather than the ballroom, and the grill will not be open for dinner until May.

Of the two books, celebrated North Carolina author, Ron Rash, says: “Newt Smith’s spiritual journey is rendered with such attentiveness and fidelity that we become his fellow travelers. We too share the pain and effort but above all the wonder, and are reminded that in matters of the spirit the journey and destination can be one,” and “Robert Lee Kendrick’s poems transport the reader into the deep, dark souls of his narrators, but the elegance of his language gives the poems a rough, hard-earned grace.”

Smith, who lives in Tuckasegee, NC, received his Ph.D. from University of North Carolina. He's the treasurer of NCWN-West and a retired professor who taught creative writing, poetry and literature at Western Carolina University. He has been published widely in literary magazines including Southern Poetry Review, Carolina Quarterly, Ann Arbor Review, Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, and others. Smith now devotes his time to travel, gardening, Buddhist studies, mindfulness practices, and hiking in nature, especially in the Smoky Mountains. During his 2014 pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago he wrote a poem every day reflecting on the physical body, nature, and the spiritual.

Kendrick also has a Ph.D., earned from the University of South Carolina. He grew up in Illinois and Iowa, but now calls Clemson, South Carolina home, where he lives with his wife and their dogs. His poems have appeared in top journals, such as Tar River Poetry, Xavier Review, Louisiana Literature, South Carolina Review, The James Dickey Review, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Winter Skin, was released in 2016 by Main Street Rag Publishing.

Writers’ Night Out is a free monthly event, sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. It takes place on the second Friday of the month, April through November. Open mic readers sign up at the door and can read for three minutes each. The Union County Community Center (map here) is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76,  phone (706) 439-6092. Food is available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 6 pm to get served.  For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

We're Back: Writers' Night Out 2017 Schedule

This little guy won't be reading but you can!

Union County Community Center

☆

Blairsville, GA

☆

2nd Fridays of the month at 7 pm

☆  

Reading followed by open mic

Here's our calendar:

April 14: Robert Kendrick and Newton Smith

May 12: Diana Anhalt

June 9: Glenda Beall

July 14: Christopher Martin

Aug 11: Tribute to Tom Lux + humorous poetry open mic

Sept 8: Andrea Jurjevic and Jason Allen

Oct 13: Natalie Grant

Nov 10: Dana Wildsmith

Open mic follows for poetry or prose readers (3 minutes each)

Contact Karen Paul Holmes for more info
kpaulholmesATgmailDOTCOM



 

Last Writers' Night of the Year, Nov. 11, Blairsville, GA

Gratton & Jones Featured at Writers' Night, Blairsville, GA

Upcoming Events

Book Festival in Atlanta is Worth the Trip


Labor Day Weekend: Karen Paul Holmes and many other poets and authors will appear at the largest independent book festival in the country. September 2-4. Full schedule is here: Decatur Book Festival








Writers' Night Out: Jim May To Read from His New Book

Friday, Sept. 9: Young Harris College professors, Chelsea Rathburn and James May, will read their award-winning poems at Writers' Night Out at 7 pm. at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA.

The married couple are both well-published poets who moved to the area from Atlanta to teach English and creative writing at Young Harris College in 2013. Social hour begins at 6 p.m. (dinner available for purchase upstairs in The View Grill but please arrive no later than 6) with the reading at 7 p.m. in the ballroom. An open microphone follows for those who’d like to showcase their own writing.

Rathburn is author of two full-length poetry collections, A Raft of Grief (Autumn House Press, 2013) and The Shifting Line, winner of the 2005 Richard Wilbur Award, as well as a poetry chapbook, Unused Lines (Aralia Press, 2004). Her poems have appeared in many prestigious journals such as The Atlantic, Poetry, The New Republic, The Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and New England Review, and her prose has appeared in Creative Nonfiction. In 2009, she received a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She directs the creative writing program at YHC.

May is the author of Unquiet Things (Louisiana State University Press, 2016).  The winner of the Poetry Society of America’s Cecil Hemley Memorial Award in 2016, his poems have appeared in The Missouri Review, New England Review, New Ohio Review, The New Republic, Rattle, The Southern Review and elsewhere. The former editor of New South, he has received scholarships from The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Inprint, and the Krakow Poetry Seminar. In 2013, he won the Collins Award from Birmingham Poetry Review.

Something a Little Different at Writers' Night, July 8

Royston and Holmes to do "Call & Response" Poetry Reading, Blairsville, GA

Back by popular demand, the duo of Rosemary Royston and Karen Paul Holmes plan to once again pair up their poems and alternate their reading, rather than one poet reading all her poems followed by the other.

This month's Writers’ Night Out is on Friday, July 8. The 7 p.m. reading will be followed by an open microphone for those who’d like to share their own work. The event is free and open to the public at the Union CountyCommunity Center in the heart of Blairsville, GA. If you'd like to purchase food or drink at The View Grill, please come by 6 p.m. (the food is good but service can be slow).

Coffee with the Poets & Writers features Karen Paul Holmes & Bill Ramsey, Wed. June 15, 2016, 10:00 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Karen Paul Holmes splits her time between Atlanta and the Blue Ridge Mountains, and her two Welsh Terriers do too. With an MA in music history from the University of Michigan, she eventually made her way to the warm south and became Vice President-Marketing Communications at ING, a global financial services company.

Karen now leads a kinder gentler life as a freelance writer and poet. She finds joy participating in poetry readings and supporting poetry through the Side Door Poets group she founded/hosts in Atlanta and the Writers’ Night Out she founded/hosts in Blairsville, GA (second Saturday of the month at the Union County Community Center).

A member of the North Carolina Writers' Network, the Atlanta Writers Club, and the Georgia Poetry Society, she has studied with poets Thomas Lux, Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, William Wright, Carol Ann Duffy, and Nancy Simpson (whom she counts as her first poetry mentor).

Karen has a full-length poetry collection, Untying the Knot, forthcoming from Kelsay Books (California).
Her poetry credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, Main Street Rag, Caesura, and The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. Poems have also appeared in anthologies such as American Society: What Poets See (FutureCycle Press), and The Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia (Texas Review Press).

In 2012, Karen received an Elizabeth George Foundation emerging writer grant for poetry. She has taught writing at national business conferences, at ICL through Young Harris College, and at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Karen's Poetry on Facebook
Karen's website: Simply Communicated, Inc.

Bill Ramsey: Says, "writing is never easy but it helps when you have done it all your life." In his high school years, Bill Ramsey wrote sports columns for the local newspaper. During his forty year professional career, he wrote advertising copy, technical manuals, magazine articles and business newsletters.

Now seventy one years of age, his small town upbringing continues to influence his thinking. Like many older citizens, Bill enjoys reflecting on life experiences and being free to share his thinking in complete candor. This has served as a bridge into retirement from writing for pay to writing as play.

With three books published, he has two more in the development stage. A strong supporter literacy and literature, he is involved with readers and writers in the mountains of western North Carolina where he lives with his wife of forty eight years. Bill is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and is on the board of the North Carolina Writers' Network.

Learn more about Bill and his books at his websites:

www.authorbillramsey.com

www.billramseyblog.wordpress.com

All-Star Lineup on June 10: Ron Moran & Jonathan K Rice

Two Well-Published NC Poets to Read at Writers' Night Out, Blairsville

Ronald Moran, former Clemson professor, dean, and a Fulbright Lecturer, joins editor Jonathan K. Rice to share their work at Writers’ Night Out on Friday, June 10. The 7 p.m. reading will be followed by an open microphone for those who’d like to share their own work. The event is free and open to the public at the Union CountyCommunity Center in the heart of Blairsville, GA

Moran has published 13 collections of poetry. The most recent, Eye of the World, was just released by Clemson University Press. Of it, Poet David Kirby writes, “…this grateful, gifted poet teaches us how to burrow into and recognize the riches in our own lives.” Moran has also written two books of criticism (one coauthored) and has had more than 500 poems, essays, and reviews published in many journals, including Connecticut Poetry Review, Emrys Journal, Evening Street Review, Louisiana Review, Northwest Review, South Carolina Review,  Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Thomas Wolfe Review, and The Wallace Stevens Journal.  He has won several awards and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Moran’s writings and memorabilia about them are archived in Special Collections of the James B. Duke Library at Furman University.  He lives in Simpsonville, SC. 

Rice is founding editor and publisher of Iodine Poetry Journal, as well as co-editor of Kakalak 2016. His latest poetry collection is Killing Time (Main Street Rag, 2015). Other books include Shooting Pool with a Cellist (Main Street Rag, 2003) and Ukulele and Other Poems (Main Street Rag, 2006). His poetry has appeared in many publications. He’s also been a longtime host of poetry readings in Charlotte, NC, where he lives with his family. In 2012 he received the Irene Blair Honeycutt Legacy Award for outstanding service in support of local and regional writers, awarded by Central Piedmont Community College. As a visual artist, Rice’s work has been featured as cover art on books, as well as in online magazines.

The next day, June 11, Rice will teach a poetry class from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Writers Circle in Hayesville. For more information on the class, please see http://www.glendacouncilbeall.com/p/schedule.html - .V07szmZrUpI

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by NC Writers Network-West and takes place on the second Friday of the month. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The Union County CommunityCenter hosts the event at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092. Food is available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 6 pm to get served.  For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com

Song Lyrics & Poetry Weekend, May 20 at the Folk School

A class for poets, songwriters, prose writers, 

and anyone who loves words... 

You are in my blood like holy wine, you taste so bitter and so sweet. (Joni Mitchell)

I keep her weary ghost inside me. (Donald Hall)

fill your arms with the white and pink flowers, with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling, (Mary Oliver)

Mommy rocked the babies at night
And read the Bible by the coal oil light (Loretta Lynn) 

Inspiration... Fun... Good Food... Camaraderie... Words, Words, Words... There's music in good poetry and poetry in good music.  And if you're a lover of words, this class is for you. We'll share our favorite song lyrics and poems... and learn from them. What makes them so effective? How can we "steal" ideas and techniques for our own writing. 

What's not to love at the John C. Campbell Folk School? If you haven't been there, you're missing out on the enchantment of this beautiful place. And if you have been, you know the magic that happens. It's learning and inspiration in a supportive, non-competitive environment.
 
Karen Paul Holmes has taught and spoken at conferences across the U.S. She's the author of the poetry collection, Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press, 2014) and has been published in many fine journals and anthologies. She's the NC Writers' Network-West regional rep for the Georgia border counties. 

The class is definitely a "go," and locals can still get 1/2 price tuition at this point.  May 20-22. Register today using this link:
Song Lyrics and Poetry at the Folk School