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/.

MaryJo Dyre is a Mississippi native, an author with an interesting story

I wanted to interview author Mary Jo Dyre, a member of NCWN-West, as soon as I heard her read and discuss her two books, Dark Spot and Springheads. 

GCB: MaryJo, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to talk with me about your recently published books. 

MaryJo Dyre writes and publishes novels. This Mississippi native uses the background of her rich environment and an obsession with reading as a child to enhance her imagination.

GCB: MaryJo, tell us where you were born. Describe your family—how many children and where do you fall on the list?

MJD: My birth took place in a hospital in Winona, MS. The family home was located near an even smaller Montgomery community, Kilmichael, MS. Our homeplace, as it is called in the South, was in an even more remote area called Poplar Creek Nations. I have three older sisters and one older brother. I was 16 years old before I took in the fact that I was obviously the surprise child. My parents had their daughters and then their son. Seven years later, I came along.

GCB: Did you grow up in the city or the country? What are some fond memories of your childhood?

MJD: I grew up Mississippi rural in the 50s. When I was not yet a year old, my family moved from the Poplar Creek Nations area to Gore Springs, another small, rural gathering of families near Grenada. My father initially managed a dairy farm. My fondest memories involve endless play in the great outdoors. Screen time did not enter my world until I was eight. Imagination was my constant companion. Kingdoms created under pine trees, mudpies decorated with wildflowers, hot summer afternoons cooled with play in nearby creeks were enjoyed barefooted with hands and clothing stained from blackberry or muscadine juice.
Many poignant childhood memories involve an elderly neighbor couple, Mr. Jim and Mrs. Willie. Their farm gave me the opportunity to gather fresh eggs, learn the art of churning butter, and discover the sheer magic of an earth-hewn root cellar. Little did I know that I was living the word “organic” and honing an approach to education that would serve my future career in strong ways.

Reading became a powerful force in my childhood as it merged with a very active imagination. The sheer joy of curling up with a good book for hours of reading, checking out as many books as my arms could carry from the Elizabeth Jones Library soon made a believer out of me -- a tale well told has the power to transport me into the realm of dreams and possibility.

GCB: What were your favorite subjects in school? Where did you go to college and what degrees do you have?
MJD: If reading and writing were at the core of the subjects, I enjoyed all. Hands-on science had my attention, but not the textbook version. Math did not resonate with me until I was introduced to Transformational Grammar in college. I attended Delta State University, a small college known for producing amazing teachers. I earned a BS in Education and an MA in Literature. The Delta itself, the diverse culture, the creativity that poured from backroads Blues establishments, brush strokes with artists and potters, and powerful words from writers, all provided an equally powerful source of education.

GCB: Mary Jo, you’ve had a very successful career in education. You started a private school in Murphy and directed it for 20 years.

MJD: In 1983, I founded a private school that became, in 1997, one of North Carolina’s first 33 charter schools. Except for a short year-and-a-half period in the early 1990s, I directed the school until 2019. I remained the Executive Director for another year as I trained and worked with my replacement. I continued to serve the school through May 2022, to find answers for the increased need for expanded and renovated facilities for the growing population of learners we attracted annually.
Working to provide a choice in education was passion work for me. It was a calling that I will forever treasure. The 38-year, rich legacy of students and their families we served will continue to touch and benefit our future.

GCB: Were there challenges that you faced in this process?

MJD: Please understand first, that numerous obstacles on many levels stood in my path, in the journey, the mission to bring a choice in education to this area of Western North Carolina. I have frequently said that building a choice in education was like swimming upstream with salmon. On some occasions, the obstacles came in the form of pointing to the fact that I was not a male and that a male was needed to break through the barriers that seemingly stood in the way of building strong educational choices for area youth.

I learned early in my education career to ask plenty of questions to people who had strengths I did not have. This habit served me well. Additionally, there are many strong examples of females who turned the world of education on its heels for improvement. Again, I “leaned in” to all that I could glean from these strong, innovative women leaders.

GCB: Your brother was an author and had published a series of legal thrillers. He was killed in an accident. Can you tell us about that and where was his unfinished novel at the time of his death?

MJD: Arnold Douglas Dyre published two memoir-style non-fiction collections first. He then moved to fiction with his Jake Baker Mystery series. Arnold died of a massive heart attack while driving back to his home near Jackson, MS. The vehicle wrecked totally without the aid of a driver. The partially completed Dark Spot, the fourth book in the series, was in his computer that was also in the destroyed truck. Recovering the file from a very damaged hard drive took time.

GCB: Had you read his books before he died? Were you and your brother close in age and did you see him often?

MJD: Yes, I read all my brother’s books before his death. I eventually read them countless times after I said yes to finishing the unfinished manuscript he left behind.
My brother was seven years older. He was a prime mover in my life through my teens. In many ways I idolized him. He, of course, spent a great deal of time with neighborhood boys near his age. I begged him to let me tag along with everything he did. My mother balanced that desire on my part by having my brother read to me. I was close to seven before I realized he was not reading. Instead, he was spinning a story as I sat spellbound. Even then he was teaching me the art of storytelling. I can still hear him telling me he would someday be an author. Of course, I began to say the same because I longed to be just like him. When my brother went to Ole Miss, then joined the Navy, did a tour in Vietnam, and married, the days of my childhood following in my brother’s footsteps seemed to fade into the past. Time constraints, family commitments on the part of both of us and living in different states kept us separated in many ways. My sisters and I still treasure the time, just months before his death, when all five of us were together in my home in North Carolina.

GCB: I imagine that you had reservations about writing the book he had started. How did you come to be the one to write the ending of his last book? 

MJD: Yes, I had reservations. Perhaps the strongest hesitation was the desire to make sure I remained true to how he would have “told the story.” At the same time, I knew that it was essential for me to have my own emotional connection to his plot and characters. When Arnold’s nephew sent the partial manuscript, I knew I had to feel the first read in my core. No question, I felt it and knew I could take on the project.
Because of my background in teaching literature and writing and the fact that I had my own proverbial dust-covered unfinished manuscript seemingly lost to a demanding career, family members asked if I would consider finishing Arnold’s work.

GCB: How did you continue with the same characters he had imagined? Did you change any of them?

MJD: I often answer this question of how I continued with Arnold’s same imagined characters in this simplistic way: I crawled into my brother’s imagination. The process of tapping into that sacred place began with re-reading the three published novels in his series, carefully creating character sketches and timelines of each. I researched and interviewed people that I felt certain were captured within his layers of fictional disguise. Patterns of awareness began to emerge. I more readily saw the development and growth of my brother’s writing. I became aware of topics being explored in the third novel that he seemed hesitant to include in his earlier writing. The unfinished manuscript convinced me that the horizons of his writing were broadening to yet more topics not yet explored. He had gone bolder with both characters and plot. No question I had to sustain the reach he seemed to prioritize in the fourth book.
The character of Kelly, introduced within the first couple of pages of Dark Spot, spoke to me in strong ways. I sensed my brother’s blessing, so to speak, to unleash my feminine intuition with this character. She offered so much undeveloped potential to bring a fresh approach to the stereotypical May-December wife, made wealthy through marriage.

GCB: You had been working on your own novel for several years but your work as a founder and director of a school kept you too busy to find time for writing. Did you decide to finish your and his novel after you retired from teaching?

MJD: I took on the completion of Dark Spot when I was still a full-time executive director in the field of education. Delay or hesitation was not in my vocabulary. When the voice in the mind refuses to go silent, the writer in me knows it’s time to write. My brother had a reading audience that was waiting for his next novel and many, many loved ones who were not ready for his voice to end.
When I decided to pick up my novel, Springheads, again, I still worked full-time in education, was involved in the early stages of the Blu Sky Initiative and would soon move into yet another work adventure. Retire is not a word that has any roots in my life as of the present. In my experience, the voice in the mind of the writer is the driver as opposed to waiting for the ideal free time to write.

GCB: I am a big John Grisham fan, and you say your brother’s book is similar to Grisham’s writing. Tell us your brother’s name and the title of his book that has both of you listed as authors. In what way is your brother’s book like Grisham’s?

MJD: Dark Spot, A Jake Baker Mystery by Arnold Dyre and Mary Jo Dyre
Grisham and my brother both write from the perspective of an attorney. Like Grisham, my brother was an attorney. I know that my brother’s writing was influenced by some of the hard facts that were presented in his career as a defense attorney. The pace, the intensity of character and plot are similar in both John Grisham and Arnold Dyre.

GCB: While you were writing your brother’s book did you feel him with you? What kind of mindset did it take to write what you thought your brother would write?

MJD: To say that I felt my brother with me as I wrote to complete his unfinished manuscript is an understatement. I have shared with many that I feel as if I got an extra year plus with my brother after his death. It was not a great leap to imagine his voice reading aloud his sentences. When I am in my writing zone, I feel the need to go inward. I listen much more than I talk. In fact, I become a bit of a recluse to get “far from the maddening crowd.” This approach was certainly true as I embraced my brother’s writing voice alongside my own.

GCB:   Most of us use some personal background in our novels. Did you do that? If so, what were some of the experiences or places you included?

MJD: A major influencer in Springheads is a specific peninsula of land that I know very intimately in real life. This setting becomes a sense of place, a driving force in the unfolding of the plot line. I strongly felt the need to balance the inexplicable introduction of time travel with characters within a real community. Indeed, the people and places that make up the fabric of my life provided a rich pallet of possible characters and settings. Fortunately, fiction allows hand-picking characteristics and combining them in creative ways to ultimately bring to life the strong characters who drive the Springheads’ story. One of my favorite combinations, Miss Sadie, the midwife/healer full of sage wisdom and visionary thinking, is created with character traits found in three women whose skills, physical appearance, and intuitive genius have spilled into my real life.
My basic rules of thumb with character development: Write about what I know best. Draw on a well-rounded combination of real-life people whose personalities get my attention. Aim for powerhouse characters remembered by readers. Remember that my medium is fictional writing.

GCB: Are there other writers in your family?
MJD: To my knowledge, my brother and I are the only two published literary authors.

GCB: Writing a book is not the hardest part of being an author. Now that your books are on the market, do you have a marketing plan in place?

MJD: Dark Spot was published in 2019. Springheads was published in July 2023. With the publication of Dark Spot, the marketing plan grew in momentum around a strong Mississippi reading audience already created by my brother. He had an established presence with several small Mississippi newspapers. I picked up his by-monthly publications with these papers. Invitations to do book events came as a result. Additionally, I created my website: www.maryjodyre.com inclusive of a blog and increased social media presence.
Covid-19 threw a curve ball in the plan to strengthen my audience into North Carolina in late March 2020. I am now making use of the July 2023 publication of Springheads to create a growing reading audience around both Dark Spot and Springheads in North Carolina and Mississippi. I make use of opportunities available through Red Hawk Publications, NC Writers’ Network West, NC Writers Network and increased social media presence. Additionally, I work to create a presence in local bookstores and shops. The next step in the marketing plan is to obtain an agent.

GCB: Your novel is published by Red Hawk Publications. How are they helping with marketing your book?
MJD: Red Hawk has been instrumental with press releases as well as some in-person opportunities in the Catawba County area for book sales. I link my own website www.maryjodyre.com to https://redhawkpublications.com/

GCB: Have you begun another novel or have one in mind?

MJD: Yes, Springheads will have a sequel. My life is busy, but the story does not quieten in my head. An early-stage manuscript is in the works.

Thank you Mary Jo, for your time to answer my questions. Good luck with both of these books.

Mary Jo Dyre featured guest reader at Oct. 26 Mountain Wordsmiths

      Author Mary Jo Dyre will be the featured reader for this month’s gathering of Mountain Wordsmiths on Thursday, October 26, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

     Dyre, a talented author based in Western North Carolina, is a former educator, now working in insurance. She first finished and published her deceased brother Arnold Dyre’s half-completed manuscript of "Dark Spot," the fourth book in the Jake Baker series.

Mary Jo Dyre

     Next came a plotline of her own. "Springheads" combines multiple genres of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and fantasy to create a compelling story of self-discovery.

     Dyre's novel takes readers on a journey through time and space, from Mississippi to Arizona, and even South America, as the protagonist, Sarah Baker Bryant, discovers herself through connections to land and water that cradle home and deep-running family roots. Vivid descriptions transport readers to the westernmost mountains of North Carolina and a special piece of river property that holds great power and significance. Sense of place becomes a compelling character in its own right.

     Dyre says, "Dreams from real life inspired the writing of this particular book. These sequel dreams, so-called visions of the night, produced the creative, intriguing flow of tales mixed and connected through time in the plot of 'Springheads.' My characters revealed lives of their own making throughout the writing process, discovered only as I listened intently enough to bring them to the page through my words."

     NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We offer writing events and writing classes both online and in person. Writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because they can join our gatherings from other locations across America. Attendees are welcome to bring a poem or short prose piece to read during Open Mic. Please limit the reading to 3-5 minutes.

     Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com or ncwngeorgiarep@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link.  Mountain Wordsmiths is informal, and welcomes anyone who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing. All who attend are encouraged to enjoy their morning cup of coffee or tea as the group shares thoughts about writing.

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.

A Literary Trail: stories and poems from Mississippi to North Carolina, author readings by Mary Ricketson & Mary Jo Dyre, Murphy Art Center, Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Mississippi to North Carolina, a literary trail, featuring:

stories and poems by Mary Peavey Ricketson and Mary Jo Dyre

Meet the authors for selected readings, book signing, and reception:

Murphy Art Center, 33 Valley River Ave, Murphy NC 28906

Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 5 PM

Mary Ricketson’s new book of poems, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian (Kelsay Books, 2019), relates a story of her family, from the perspective of racial tensions in troubled Mississippi, 1948-1969, and the parents who believed in equality and found a way through these troubled times.

Written in a personal manner, these poems engage an audience by speaking to diversity, understanding, and trust in context of the lives of people who were less aware than many of us today.

Living near Murphy NC, Ricketson is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor, Her poetry published in journals and her books: Disorgananza, private publication 2000, chapbook, I Hear the River Call my Name, and three full length collections, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, and Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian. 
 
Ricketson writes a monthly column, Women to Women, for The Cherokee Scout. She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice, and an organic vegetable, herb, and blueberry farmer. 

Mary Jo Dyre native Mississipian, living in the Murphy area of North Carolina since 1979, officially entered the arena as a writer as she finished and published DARK SPOT from a partial manuscript left by her brother, Arnold Dyre, at his death in 2017. DARK SPOT is the fourth book in the Jake Baker Mystery Series.

Long before picking of the pen of fiction writing, Dyre taught 10th and 11th English in the Marks, MS, then World Literature, Writing and Art Appreciation at Tri-County Community College. She now has a far-reaching reputation in education with the founding of The Learning Center, first as a private school in 1983 and then with its conversion to a North Carolina Charter School in 1997.

Dyre is currently developing a strategic facility project for the school, writes monthly columns for two Mississippi newspapers, The Grenada Star and The Coffeeville Courier, and is working on her next novel SPRINGHEADS. The work is a blend of history and mystery that promises to intrigue her growing base of both Mississippi and North Carolina fans 


This event is sponsored by Cherokee County Arts Council and the Jackie Ward Foundation, supporters of the arts in far western North Carolina.

Learning Center Kids in Bay Leaves

We learned that some of The Learning Center's students who submitted poems for the contests of the Poetry Society of North Carolina will have their poems published in Bay Leaves, the annual anthology with the winning poems in the annual contests held by the Poetry Society of NC.

In the Charlotte Young Contest for Elementary School Students Eli Sellers won third place and Jade Shelton received an honorable mention. The other contest was called “Carol Bessent Hayman Contest for Middle School Students” and Sam Davidson received honorable mention for his poem.
The names of the poems are:
Eli Sellers- “Dragon!”
Jade Shelton- “Fat Boy”
Samuel Davidson- “WAR”

The Learning Center in Murphy, NC is a charter school headed by Netwest member, Mary Jo Dyre.

Candy Maier Scholarship Fund

Mary Ricketson, Netwest Rep for Cherokee County, Mary Jo Dyre, Netwest Representative on the Board for NCWN Board of Trustees, Glenda Beall, Program Coordinator for Netwest, Gwendie Camp, Chairman of the Candy Fund, Cheryl Dietrich, treasurer of the Candy Fund stand in front of a beautiful quilt at the Curiosity Shop Bookstore in Murphy. The quilt was raffled off and a name drawn the day of our visit.

Recently Gwendie Camp and Cheryl Dietrich drove down to join Mary Jo Dyre who acts as a liaison for the Candy Fund, and her guests, Mary Ricketson and Glenda Beall to discuss the future of the new non-profit charity over lunch at Shoebooties' restaurant in Murphy. In the three years this fund has been active, they have raised $11,000 and given out 50 scholarships totaling $8, 000.
They are ready now to develop a website, send out a newsletter and hold a series of fundraisers. Gwendie says they have volunteer positions available on the Board of Directors and for regional coordinators to reach out beyond the boundaries of Asheville to women south and north of Buncombe county.

We offered our support from Netwest because we believe this to be a needed organization. The Candy Maier Fund provided scholarships to several of our members in the past couple of years. The Fund is seeking donations to help meet the growing need for Candy Fund scholarships. Donations, any amount is appreciated, are tax-exempt.The Candy Fund is the only scholarship program of its type in this area.
You can reach the Candy Maier Scholarship Fund for Women Writers by email: thecandyfund@yahoo.com or by snail mail: 4B Long shoals Road #164, Arden, North Carolina, 28704-7781.