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/.

Owens and Beal to Read at Literary Hour Sept. 19

  Poet Scott Owens and Author Donna Beal will be the featured readers at the next Literary Hour Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Open House on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus. The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

        Scott Owens is the author of 22 collections of poetry and recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, the Next Generation/Indie Lit Awards, the NC Writers Network, the NC Poetry Society, and the Poetry Society of SC. His poems have been featured in The Writer’s Almanac eight times, and his articles about writing poetry have been used in Poet’s Market four times. He has twice been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and to be North Carolina Poet Laureate. Owens holds degrees from Ohio University, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.  He is Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University, and former editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Poetry Review. He owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery and coordinates Poetry Hickory in Hickory, NC.

Western North Carolina writer, Donna Beal, was raised in Greensboro, NC, and has lived in various towns in the eastern states. She moved in June of 2023 to her husband’s hometown of Hayesville, NC, where they live the good life with their two Chinese Crested dogs Honey Bear and Gracie Bear, an unnamed visiting bear and a gang of turkeys.

Donna Beal

        Beal is a graduate of Winthrop University with a double major in philosophy and religion and concentrations in both technical and creative writing. After college she began working in a large financial institution where she became a senior vice president and director. After retiring she pursued her interest in writing.  She has been published in numerous journals and is a member of The North Carolina Writer’s Network-West and the sistaWRITE group founded by North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green. She’s even been known to preach a few sermons.

Well known local 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/.

Local Writers Calby and Jackson to Read at Campbell School

The next Literary Hour at the John C. Campbell Folk School will feature two talented North Carolina writers Kathleen Calby and Karen Luke Jackson.  The Literary Hour, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, meets on campus in the Keith House at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 18.

Kathleen Calby

Poet Kathleen Calby lives in Hendersonville and hosts bi-weekly events for the North Carolina Writers Network.  Kelsay Books published her chapbook “Flirting with Owls” in 2023. A Rash Poetry Award Finalist in 2022, she has been published in Connecticut Review, New Plains Review, Heimat Review and other journals and is finishing a full-length poetry collection about a journey to Egypt.  Calby says she enjoys fried chicken and biscuits a bit too much and strenuous hikes not enough.

Karen Jackson

Karen Luke Jackson's stories, essays, and poems have appeared in numerous journals including the Atlanta Review, Susurrus, Reckon Review, Braided Way, and Nobody’s Home.  She has also authored three poetry collections.  A member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the North Carolina Poetry Society, Jackson draws inspiration from contemplative practices, clowning, family lore and the goats grazing beside her cottage in Flat Rock, NC.

The Literary Hour is free and open to everyone.  It 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 https://www.folkschool.org/.

Ricketson and Westwood to Read at May 16 Literary Hour

  Poet Mary Ricketson of Murphy, and writer David Andrew Westwood of Hayesville will be featured at the Thursday, May 16, Literary Hour at 7 p.m. in the Keith House library on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Mary Ricketson

Ricketson has been writing poetry for over twenty-five years.  Her poems have been published in numerous poetry reviews and in her recent collection, “Stutters, A Book of Hope,” as well as five other full-length poetry collections and two chapbooks.  She won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest.  Inspired by nature and her role as a mental health counselor, her poems reflect the healing powers of nature, a path she follows from Appalachian tradition, with the surrounding mountains as midwife for her words.

David Andrew Westwood

Westwood was brought up in 1960s London, got stuck in Los Angeles for far too long, and is now happily settled in Hayesville.  He writes mostly historical fiction — 17 novels so far — but also the occasional short story and essay.  His novels have won three awards from the Military Writers Society of America, and a recent short story was a finalist for North Carolina’s Doris Betts Prize.  His latest novel, “Bitternut Creek,” will be released in August.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local poets and writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  The public, and 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/.

Owens and Beall to be Featured at April 18 Literary Hour

Poet Scott Owens of Hickory, NC, and writer Glenda Beall of Hayesville will be featured at the Thursday, April 18, Literary Hour at 7 p.m. in the Keith House library on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus in Brasstown.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

Scott Owens is the author of 20 collections of poetry and recipient of numerous awards for his poetry.  His poems have been featured in national publications and he has twice been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and to be North Carolina Poet Laureate.

Owens is Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University, and former editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Poetry Review. He also owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery and coordinates Poetry Hickory in Hickory, NC. His 21st book, "An Augury of Birds," a collaboration with photographer, Clayton Joe Young, will be out in August. And his collection of haiku, illustrated by Missy Cleveland, will be out in December.

Glenda Beall

Glenda Council Beall has taught memoir writing at the folk school, Tri-County Community College and at the Institute of Continuing Learning (ICL) for many years. She became interested in Genealogy in the early 1990s and compiled a family history book, “Profiles and Pedigrees, Thomas C. Council, and his Descendants,” which chronicles the lives of her grandfather and his 10 children born in the late 19th century.

Beall’s short stories and personal essays have been published in online journals including “Muscadine Lines,” “A Southern Journal” and “Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.” Several of her poems and essays have appeared in “Living with Loss” magazine, “Breath and Shadow,” and “Reunions Magazine.”

She is currently the North Carolina Writers’ Network -West program director.  “Now Might as Well be Then,” her poetry chapbook was published in 2009.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local poets and writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  The public, and 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/.

Special Closing Program to Literary Hour at Campbell School

  The Literary Hour at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, will close out its 2023 season with a special program.  Instead of having a featured poet and writer, everyone who attends will have an opportunity to present and talk about a personal or favorite poem or prose piece.  The program will start at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in the Kieth House library on the Folk School campus.

Readers will have up to five minutes to present either an original piece they have written, or a piece by another author they especially love.  Each reader should be prepared to briefly describe the piece after reading it and, if an original work, talk about what inspired it, what went into writing it or the intent behind writing it, etc.  If it is a favorite piece by another author, then discuss why it is memorable or special.

The program is intended as an open session where everybody has an opportunity to share and exchange motivations, inspirations, and ideas which led them to love and produce literature.  I hope you will make plans to attend and present (if you want to) or just enjoy an evening listening to others read and talk about the meaning and love of literature.

The Literary Hour season for 2024 will start again in March and continue every third Thursday of the month through November bringing local writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to members of NCWN-West and Folk School students and faculty.

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/

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.

Local Writers Karen Paul Holmes and Bob Grove Featured at Literary Hour

The Literary Hour will feature two well-known local writers Thursday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  Poet Karen Paul Holmes and author Bob Grove will read from their works at the Open House on the school’s campus.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Karen Paul Holmes

Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and has published two books of poetry: “No Such Thing as Distance” and “Untying the Knot.”  Her poetry has also appeared in “The Writer's Almanac,” “The Slowdown,” “Verse Daily,” “Prairie Schooner,” and “Plume” among many other literary journals and anthologies.

Holmes also teaches writing at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  Since 2010, she has hosted the Side Door Poets in Atlanta, and she is known locally as the founder and host for many years of Writers' Night Out in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  More information about her work can be found on her website, www.karenpaulholmes.com.

Grove lives in Brasstown within five minutes of the folk school.  He has published twenty books and hundreds of magazine articles and is also known for his dramatic reading at the Campbell School of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, which he performs in costume and in a British dialect.

Bob Groves

Grove’s writing varies between genres from humor to drama.  Prior to retiring he was a high school science and English teacher and for several years was an ABC-TV public affairs host.  Additionally, he has appeared as a featured speaker at 14 national conventions and before one U.S. Congressional committee.

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 https://www.folkschool.org/.

Dyre and Mitchell to Read at Literary Hour Aug. 17

  Author Mary Jo Dyre of Murphy and Poet Maren Mitchell will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, Aug. 17, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Mary Jo Dyre

Dyre is the author of “Springheads” which was published in 2023 and is a Murphy, NC, resident.  She began her writing career by completing her deceased brother Arnold Dyre’s half-completed manuscript of “Dark Spot” which became the final book in his Jake Baker Mystery series.

Her novel combines multiple genres of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and fantasy to create a compelling story mixing broad sweeps of history gleaned from the Appalachian mountains, rural Mississippi, the wild west days of Arizona, and the continent of South America.  Dyre is also known in the area for founding a school serving families and students in Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties, and serving as its executive director from 2000-2021.

Maren O. Mitchell’s poems have appeared in regional, national, and international publications including “Appalachian Heritage,” “The South Carolina Review,” “Southern Humanities Review,” “Appalachian Journal,” and several anthologies.  Three of her poems have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes and she received a 1st Place Award for Excellence in Poetry from the Georgia Poetry Society.

Maren O. Mitchell

Her chapbook is “In my next life I plan....”  She also has published a nonfiction book “Beat Chronic Pain, An Insider’s Guide.”  Mitchell, a North Carolina native now living in Georgia, taught poetry at Blue Ridge Community College, in Flat Rock, NC, and catalogued at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.

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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November, according to Glenda Beall, NCWN-West coordinator.  “Our goals for the Literary Hour at the folk school are to bring local writers and any member of NCWN who is in the area to the campus to share their work,” she said.

CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER Rarey and Raven Chiong to Read at July 20 Literary Hour

Kanute 

CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

  Local storyteller Kanute Rarey and poet Raven Chiong will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m. in the Open House of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Kanute is well-known for his storytelling at house concerts, community events, schools, libraries, festivals and on stages in Georgia, North Carolina and other states as far afield as Ohio and Texas.  Chiong, whose poetry and prose has appeared in publications from coast-to-coast, will be reading from her recently published book, “Ode to the Still Small Voice—A Memoir of Listening.”

Raven and Dulce

Kanute took his first official step to the storytelling stage eight years ago after he retired to the mountains of North Carolina. His family and friends would say he has been a storyteller all of his life. He claims to come by his talent honestly. Growing up on a farm in Ohio his dad made life sound like a tall tale “holding court”at the breakfast table, he said. 

Today, in addition to performing at various venues, he works with the Georgia Storytelling Network, and the annual Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival.  He founded the Mountain Area Storytellers serving western North Carolina and north Georgia and produces a monthly Open Mic Night – Stories on the Square and a monthly Evening of Appalachian Stories at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He also produces a four-performance series, Scribes on Stage at the Peacock Playhouse. 

Kanute actively supports local and regional storytellers, writers, poets and singer-song writers. He attributes his early beginning to the generosity of members of the North Carolina Writers Network and to John C. Campbell Folk School and national storyteller Elizabeth Ellis. 

Raven’s writing career began at five years of age when she became a loyal pen pal to her absent mother. She earned her Master of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Florida.

A lifelong student, life coach, and educator, her career includes qualifying for the First Ever 1984 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials and paying it forward with her 19-year cross country coaching career at DePauw University, Florida Atlantic University, Pine Crest Prep School, and Mills College. After a long competitive running and coaching career, she now runs her pen across the pages of this life.

Raven is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Utah State Poetry Society, Florida State Poetry Association, and National Federation of State Poetry Societies. 

She has also been working with Best Friends Animal Society since 2008. Above all, she is the proud and devoted mama of four rescue dogs who found her wandering in the high desert of Southern Utah. They are her ongoing source of inspiration, a-“muse”-ment, and her greatest teachers, she said.

Local author Bob Grove of Brasstown, NC, will serve as host for the Literary Hour.

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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Literary Hour at Campell School Features Beall and Owens

  Local memoirist Glenda Beall and poet Scott Owens are the featured authors for the Literary Hour on Thursday, June 15, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

Scott Owens of Hickory, NC, writes poetry as if he were a painter. Painters see more than other people see. They look beyond the obvious. Owens sees and invites the reader to visualize images, actions, beliefs, purposes, and motives. His books cover a wide range of topics including a love of nature, surviving an abusive childhood, growing up on a farm, writing, religion, dreams and nightmares, parenting, politics, philosophy, existentialism, and, of course, love.

A professor of poetry at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Owens is the author of 19 collections of poetry, and more than 1,200 published poems. He has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, the NC Writers' Network, the NC Poetry Society, the Poetry Society of SC, and many others.

Glenda Council Beall lives in the mountains of western North Carolina with her dog, Lexie. Since 1996, her work has been widely published in numerous journals, magazines and online reviews. 

Glenda Council Beall

In 2009, her poetry chapbook “Now Might as Well Be Then,” was published by Finishing Line Press. In 1998, she published a family history book, “Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1888 - 1911).” She co-authored, with Estelle Rice, “Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers, and Fins; Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures,” an anthology of stories, nonfiction, and poetry with beautiful color photos.

For 10 years she owned and directed Writers Circle Around the Table where she brought outstanding poetry and prose writers to Clay County, NC, to teach local writers. She has taught memoir writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School, Tri-County College, and ICL at Young Harris College.

Beall is program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

CarolLynn Jones, author of “Danya,” a novel about a family surviving the Russian revolution, will host the Literary Hour.

The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November.

CarolLynn Jones and Mary Ricketson Reading at Literary Hour

  Local writers CarolLynn Jones and Mary Ricketson will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, May 18, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

CarolLynn Jones

CarolLynn Jones is the author of “Danya,” a historical novel.  It is a fictionalized account, based on memoirs by survivors of the Russian communist revolution, which follows the lives of two families struggling in a world going mad with sweeping cultural, religious, and political upheaval.  The novel is available on Amazon.  Jones studied art and illustration at Syracuse University and started a greeting card business which supplied cards to stores throughout the country.  She has traveled in Russia and spent two weeks living with a Russian family.  She will be reading from a true story of hope and redemption.

Mary Ricketson

Mary Ricketson is an award-winning poet, mental health counselor, and blueberry farmer who lives in Murphy.  Her published collections are “I Hear the River Call My Name,” “Hanging Dog Creek,” “Shade and Shelter,” “Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian,” “Keeping in Place,” and “Lira, Poems of a Woodland Woman,” and “Precious the Mule.”  Ricketson won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest.  Inspired by nature and her role as a mental health counselor, her poems reflect the healing powers of nature, a path she follows from Appalachian tradition, with the surrounding mountains as midwife for her words.  She is also known for her monthly column, “Woman to Woman,” which runs in “The Cherokee Scout.”

Writer and poet Glenda Beall, coordinator for NCWN-West, will host the
event.  The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November.  “Our goals for the Literary Hour at the folk school are to bring local writers and any member of NCWN who is in the area to the campus to share their work,” Beall said.

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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Author Sandy Benson and Poet Richard Cary to Read at Campbell School

Author Sandy Benson and Poet Richard Montfort Cary will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, April 20, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Benson will read selections from her first book, “My Mother’s Keeper: One Family’s Journey Through Dementia,” and the book she is currently working on, “Girls Can’t Do That,” a collection of

Sandy Benson

mostly humorous short stories about her life as one of America’s first female foresters.  Cary will read selections from his forthcoming chronological autobiography of his poetry.

Benson is a soon-to-be-retired professional forester with a background in journalism.  She has worked as a forester in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska, while moonlighting as a reporter, editor, publisher, and freelance non-fiction writer.  Numerous newspapers and magazines have published her articles, and she received several awards from the Nebraska Press Women’s organization.

She has lived with her husband, Barry, in Warne, NC, since 2018 and enjoys sharing tales at local storyteller gatherings and writing publicity releases for the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.

Cary began writing poetry in high school and continues to this day.  He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1964 with a BFA in Theatre Arts, and spent six years in regional theatres, before moving year-round to Nantucket Island, MA, where he became a designer and builder of custom

Richard Cary

homes.  In 1985, he founded Actors Theatre of Nantucket, the island’s professional theatre company, and served as Artistic Director for twenty years.

His claim to local fame is that his great aunt, Olive Dame Campbell, founded the Campbell Folk School.  In April 2022, he wrote and directed “The Birth Of The John C Campbell Folk School” which received generous praise when it was performed at the Peacock.  The theatre hosted an encore production this year.  He and his wife Cheryl moved to Hayesville NC in 2017.

Local poet and author Joan Howard will host the event.

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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Literary Hour Returns to J.C. Campbell School

  The Literary Hour returns to the J.C. Campbell Folk School March 16 at 7 p.m. with readings by popular local poet and storyteller Brenda Kay Ledford and local novelist David Plunkett.  The Literary Hour will continue every third Thursday of the month through September and is free and open to everyone.
Ledford, a Clay County, NC, native, will read from her poetry which draws on her love for the beauty, heritage, and history of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  Her poetry collection, “Blanche, Poems of a Blue Ridge Woman,” published by Redhawk Publishing, won the Paul Green Multimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians in 2022.
In addition to her award-winning poetry, she is the recipient of the Children’s Book Award for her picture book “The Singing Convention” and writes the Blue Ridge Poet blog which is dedicated to preserving the culture of Southern Appalachia through poetry, storytelling and writing.
Plunkett, who lives in Young Harris, GA, is the author of the espionage thrillers “Chessboard” and “Poisoned Pawn” published by Kindle Direct Publishing.  Readers have called “Chessboard” “intriguing and captivating,” and a well-researched book about “the shadow workings of our government.”  He will read selections from both novels and talk about his process for writing them.
The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and will continue every third Thursday of the month through November 16 at 7 p.m.
        The March meeting will be hosted by Murphy, NC, poet Mary Ricketson, who is president of the Ridgeline Literary Alliance and the 2011 winner of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest national poetry contest.
Ledford, Plunkett and Ricketson are members of the North Carolina Writer's Network-West.  The Literary Hour meets in the Living Room of the Keith House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus.  For more information you can contact Glenda Beall at glendabeall@msn.com.
The J.C. Campbell Folk School is located in Brasstown, NC, and 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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Literary Hour at John Campbell Folk School September 15

The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West’s Literary Hour will be held at the John C. Campbell Folk School on Thursday, September 15, 2022, at 7 p.m. The event will be held in the Open House. The Literary Hour is free and open to the public.

The featured writers for September are Karen Paul Holmes and Lorraine Bennett.

 

Karen Paul Holmes has published two poetry books, No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin, 2018) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich, 2014). Her poems have been featured on The Writer's Almanac and The Slowdown. Publications include Diode, Valparaiso Review, Verse Daily, and Prairie Schooner. Holmes founded the Side Door Poets in Atlanta, which she still hosts. She also started Writers' Night Out for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, which is now in its twelfth year. Held via Zoom on the second Friday of the month, Writers’ Night Out is hosted by Holmes and Glenda Beall. She also teaches periodically at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She will read mostly new poems at the Literary Hour as well as a short selection from No Such Thing as Distance.

 

Lorraine Martin Bennett is a print, web, and broadcast journalist who grew up in Murphy, North Carolina. She graduated from Murphy High School and UNC Chapel Hill. She has been a journalist with the Atlanta Journal where she met her late husband, Tom, a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. She also wrote for the Los Angeles Times and became the newspaper’s first woman to head a domestic bureau. She joined fledgling CNN as a news writer, becoming copy editor, producer, and editorial manager before ending her television career at CNN International. In retirement, she writes essays, short stories, flash fiction, poetry and still practices her craft by copy editing and occasionally writing articles for the Clay County Progress. Her essays have appeared in the Personal Story Publishing Project (Daniel Boone Footsteps, Winston-Salem) for the past two years, with another coming out soon. Her first novel, Cat on a Black Moon, a psychological thriller, will be published by Austin Macauley (London, Cambridge, New York) later this year. She will read the first two chapters from her new book.

 

The Literary Hour will be held on the third Thursday of the month through November at John C. Campbell Folk School in the roofed and open pavilion of the Open House. From Clays Corner in Brasstown turn onto Brasstown Road, then turn left on Scoggins Road then left again to pass Davidson Hall. Or coming from Marsh Creek, turn right onto Davidson Road and follow around to Open House. Parking is in front near the vegetable gardens.

 Anyone with a love of the written word will be transported by the talent of the featured writers. Contact Patricia Zick at pczick23@gmail.com for further information

Literary Hour Returns to John C. Campbell Folk School

The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West’s Literary Hour returns to the John C.Campbell Folk School on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 7 p.m., after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. The event will be held in the Open House. The Literary Hour is free and open to the public.

The featured writers for August are Brenda Kay Ledford and Glenda Beall.

Brenda Kay Ledford

 Brenda Kay Ledford, a seventh-generational native of Clay County, North Carolina, is an award-winning author, blogger, and retired educator. Her work has appeared in many journals including Asheville Poetry Review, Our State, Appalachian Heritage, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Guidepost Magazine, 49 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and many other publications. She writes about nature and wants to help preserve the culture of this region. She's received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians thirteen times for her books. Ledford will read poetry from her latest book, Blanche, Poetry of a Blue Ridge Woman, which was released by Redhawk Publishing in 2021.

Glenda Council Beall

Glenda Beall serves as program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. Her essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in magazines and literary journals as well as online. Her poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. She has co-authored a collection of stories, poems, and essays Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins, Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures. 

Much of her writing is filled with stories about horses, dogs, and cats that have been a part of her family. Her love of genealogy led her to compile stories of her grandfather and his ten children in Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 – 1911). Beall’s online classes, Writers Circle around the Table, and classes for the Institute of Continuing Learning reach people from all over the country. She will read her creative non-fiction as well as short stories.

 The Literary Hour will be held on the third Thursday of the month through November at John C. Campbell Folk School in the roofed and open pavilion of the Open House. From Clays Corner in Brasstown turn onto Brasstown Road, then turn left on Scoggins Road then left again to pass Davidson Hall. Or coming from Marsh Creek, turn right onto Davidson Road and follow around to Open House. Parking is in front near the vegetable gardens.

 Anyone with a love of the written word will be transported by the talent of each month’s featured writers. Contact Patricia Zick at pczick23@gmail.com for further information.

Patricia Zick

Literary Hour at JCCFS - last one this year

Read about last evening's reading at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
Click this:   https://www.glendacouncilbeall.com/2019/11/literary-hour-finale-for-2019-starred.html#.XdgrAJNKiM8

Here is a photo.

Linda Jones, Janice Moore, Meagan Lucas