Ken Chamlee Book Launch Set for Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

    Poet Kenneth Chamlee will launch his latest book, "The Best Material for the Artist in the World," (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. over Zoom.

    "The Best Material for the Artist in the World" tracks the life and career of landscape artist Albert Bierstadt. Relaying the story primarily through his voice, these narrative, lyric, and ekphrastic poems touch the momentum of the developing west, the devastation of native tribes and great buffalo herds, and the resiliency of Bierstadt’s art in our time of environmental awareness and expansionist reappraisal.

    To get a link and join the Zoom presentation contact Ken at chamleek@gmail.com.

    Bierstadt was born in Germany and came to America with his parents at age two. Growing up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the young artist apprenticed in Europe, but the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite Valley became the subjects driving his expansive, often romanticized sense of nature. Though best known for large-scale paintings with atmospheric trees and ethereal lighting, Bierstadt was also a master of intimate detail and animal portraiture. 

     ​​Chamlee’s biography-in-poems follows the arc of Bierstadt’s life and career, from youth to extraordinary success to eventual decline. Primarily in the artist’s voice, the poems also speak through other important characters, renderings of specific paintings, and the poet’s own sense of engagement. With realistic description and emotional embrace, this fine collection explores Bierstadt’s determination to depict a glorious post-war West while also revealing personal and historic loss.

Order from Stephen F. Austin
State University Press
Also available at
Highland Books, Brevard, NC
City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC
Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC
Main Street Books, Davidson, NC
Union Avenue Books, Knoxville , TN

Ken Chamlee and Annelle Beall to Read at Oct. 19 Literary Hour

  North Carolina poet Ken Chamblee and Georgia novelist Annelle Beall will read from their works at the Literary Hour in the Keith House on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Ken Chamlee

Chamlee is the author of “If Not These Things” and “The Best Material for the Artist in the World,” a poetic biography of 19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt.  He has two contest-winning chapbooks, “Absolute Faith” and “Logic of the Lost.”  His poems have appeared in “The North Carolina Literary Review,” “Tar River Poetry,” “Cold Mountain Review,” “Pinesong,” “Kakalak,” and in many other places.

        He is Emeritus Professor of English at Brevard College in North Carolina and holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.  Chamlee teaches for the Great Smokies Writing Program of UNC-Asheville and was the first director of the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, held annually in Brevard.

Annelle Beall

A native North Carolinian, Annelle Beall grew up in Wilmington, graduated from Western Carolina University, and now lives in Union County, Georgia.  Her debut lesbian romance novel, “How Sweet the Sound,” was published in July 2022 under the pen name Ann Tonnell.  Her second and third novels, “Not Sorry” and “Not Too Old” followed and her fourth book “Not Again,” is slated for release in the first quarter of 2024, with a fifth mystery/romance novel on target for the third quarter 2024.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from Western in sociology, with a concentration in journalism.  Her original “Not Sorry” manuscript landed her a mentorship with author Nat Burns through the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Cate Culpepper Mentorship Program.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through November 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 www.folkschool.org.

Distinguished Poet Kenneth Chamlee to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

Kenneth Chamlee

Mountain Wordsmiths is honored to have as our featured reader, distinguished poet Kenneth Chamlee, on Thursday morning, May 26, at 10:30 via Zoom. Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is continuing its online presence because local writers, as well as writers from other states and cities, are joining us each month on Zoom.

Chamlee is a 2022 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poems have appeared in The North Carolina Literary Review, The Greensboro Review, The Asheville Poetry Review, Ekphrasis, and many other journals, including several editions of Kakalak: An Anthology of Carolina Poets. He has two contest-winning chapbooks, Absolute Faith (ByLine Press) and Logic of the Lost (Longleaf Press), and has done residencies with the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Hambidge Center.

Chamlee has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and in 2017 was a finalist for the James Applewhite Poetry Prize. An Emeritus Professor of English at Brevard College, NC, he was the first director of the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, held annually in Brevard.  

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and teaches for the Great Smokies Writing Program of UNC-Asheville. His new collection of poems, If Not These Things, will be published in the fall of 2022. His poetic biography of 19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, The Best Material for the Artist in the World, is forthcoming in 2023. Learn more about him at www.kennethchamlee.com and @kenchamlee on Twitter. 

NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We will offer writing events and writing classes online until we can safely meet face-to-face again. Many writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because of the ability to join us from other locations.

 Mountain Wordsmiths will continue its online presence. For those who enjoyed attending Coffee with the Poets and Writers which met at Moss Memorial Library, exciting news is coming soon!

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.

                                                                     

 

 

 

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Writers Kenneth Chamlee, Carol Crawford, and Karen Paul Holmes to be featured at The Literary Hour, Thursday, 8/22/2019, at 7:00 PM, at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC

On Thursday, August 22, 2019, 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. This event is now held in the community room. 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 Kenneth Chamlee, Carol Crawford, and Karen Paul Holmes.

Kenneth Chamlee is Professor of English Emeritus at Brevard College in North Carolina.  His poems have appeared in The North Carolina Literary Review, Cold Mountain Review, Ekphrasis, The Greensboro Review and many others.  He won the GSU Review (Georgia State University) National Writing Award in Poetry, ByLine Magazine's National Poetry Chapbook Competition (Absolute Faith, 1999), and the Longleaf Press Poetry Chapbook Competition (Logic of the Lost, 2001).  In 2004 he won the Word Journal Poetry Prize and in 2009 and 2016 he was a finalist in the Iowa Review Poetry Contest. 

Chamlee has received three Pushcart Prize nominations. His poems have appeared in five editions of Kakalak: An Anthology of Carolina Poets and in 2017 he was a finalist for the James Applewhite Poetry Prize.

Carol Crawford has published short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in the Southern Humanities Review, Appalachian Heritage, the Concho River Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Journal of Kentucky Studies, and others. Her latest essay, ”Deliveries,” was in the April 2018 issue of Adelaide online magazine. She is owner of Carol Crawford Editing and author of The Habit of Mercy, Poems about Daughters and Mothers. 

Crawford has taught workshops for the Dahlonega Literary Festival, the John C. Campbell Folk School, the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, the Red Clay Writers’ Conference, the Carrollton Writers’ Club, and the Writers’ Circle. She has been program coordinator for the annual Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference since its inception more than twenty years ago.

Karen Paul Holmes has two full-length poetry collections, No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin Books, 2018) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press, 2014). In 2012, Karen received an Elizabeth George Foundation emerging writer grant for poetry. She was chosen as a Best Emerging Poet in 2016 by Stay Thirsty Media. Publications include Prairie Schooner, Valparaiso Review, Tar River Poetry, Poet Lore and other journals and anthologies. Holmes hosts a critique group in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Blairsville, which she founded. She also teaches writing classes at the Folk School, Writer’s Circle, and other venues.

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

For more information about this event, please contact Mary Ricketson at: maryricketson311@hotmail.com.