Writers' Night Out will bid farewell to its followers Friday, June 9, at 7 pm. WNO has been a well-attended event since 2010, but is ending its run, a victim in part of the pandemic. For the last three years it has continued virtually, which enabled it to draw a broader range of featured readers and audiences but at the cost of the personal interactions between audience and writer.
The event will feature poets Michael Diebert and Michael Walls who will read from their works followed by an open mic session for anyone wishing to read from their own works or simply bid the popular program goodbye.
The final WNO, fittingly perhaps, will be a Zoom meeting. Anyone wishing to join should contact Glenda Beall at glendabeall@msn.com.
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| Michael Diebert |
Its organizers will continue to support other in-person and virtual writing events in Western North Carolina and the Georgia mountain counties of Union and Towns.
All that being said, the featured writers for the final event are excellent examples of the talent the program was able to attract to this area.
Michael Diebert is the author of the collections “Thrash” (Brick Road, 2022) and “Life Outside the Set” (Sweatshoppe, 2013). He has served as poetry editor for “The Chattahoochee Review,” led workshops for the Chattahoochee Valley Writers' Conference and the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference, and served as president of the Georgia Poetry Society.
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| Michael Walls |
Diebert teaches writing and literature at Perimeter College, Georgia State University. Recent poems have appeared in “EcoTheo Collective,” “Book of Matches,” “Anti-Heroin Chic,” and “River Teeth.” A two-time cancer survivor, he lives in Avondale Estates, Georgia, with his wife and dogs.
Michael Walls is a retired labor lawyer who lives in Atlanta. He represented workers and labor unions for over 40 years. He has also been a lifetime activist and sometime voluntary attorney for peace, justice and environmental organizations. His new book is “Climbing an Unnamed Mountain” (Kelsay Books).
His poems have appeared in a variety of literary journals and magazines including “The South Carolina Review,” “The Midwest Quarterly,” “Poet Lore,” “Poetry East,” “San Pedro River Review,” “ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment),” “South Florida Poetry Journal,” and “Atlanta Review.” His chapbook “The Blues Singer” was published by The Frank Cat Press in 2003, and his first full-length collection “Stacking Winter Wood” was published by Kelsay Books/Aldrich Press in 2017.
In addition to poetry, Wall's published work includes articles in law reviews and bar publications. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with Erythromelalgia, a rare neuro-vascular condition characterized by chronic pain and loss of mobility that has no known cure. He is starting to write about the ways the illness and the host of autoimmune conditions that travel with it have changed and continue to change his life.
In addition to the speakers, the event will close with an open mic session during which anyone wishing to will have 3 to 4 minutes to read their own poetry or prose. Persons attending the event can sign up for open mic by emailing glendabeall@msn.com with a sentence she can use to introduce them.
Writers’ Night Out is a North Carolina Writers' Network-West event.
