The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West is offering “Jaw Droppers!”, a poetry workshop led by artist and poet Rosemary Royston Saturday, July 26, from 10 to Noon at 355 Main Street N, Suite C, Hiawassee, GA.
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Rosemary Royston |
Writers and poets in the far western mountain area of North Carolina and bordering counties of South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee post announcements, original work and articles on the craft of writing.
The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West is offering “Jaw Droppers!”, a poetry workshop led by artist and poet Rosemary Royston Saturday, July 26, from 10 to Noon at 355 Main Street N, Suite C, Hiawassee, GA.
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Rosemary Royston |
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.
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Scott Owens |
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.
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Donna Beal |
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/.
Award-winning writer Jeff Stewart will be the featured reader at Mountain Wordsmiths’ gathering on Thursday, February 22, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.
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Jeff Stewart |
Stewart’s book, "Living: Inspiration from a Father with Cancer," was named the best cancer book of 2023 at the 20th annual American BookFest awards. Their review states, “'Living' tells the story of a molecular biologist, Jeopardy! champion, and cancer patient. Cancer patients and their caregivers will find valuable insider advice… 'Living' is more than a book about cancer. 'Living' is a book about life.”
"Living" also received a “get it” rating from Kirkus Reviews, which called Stewart’s book “Complex and thoughtful, with a refreshingly upbeat attitude.” BookLife from Publisher's Weekly called "Living" a "remarkable memoir" and "a final and powerful act of love."
“So many cancer books are downers,” says Stewart. “I wanted my cancer book to be funny and helpful. I’m excited by the award and positive reviews, but it’s when someone tells me, ‘Your book helped me understand what my mother was going through’ that it all feels worth it.”Ken Jennings—yes that Ken Jennings—blurbed Stewart’s book, calling it “a moving message-in-a-bottle from a great Jeopardy! champion—who also turns out to be a writer with a rare gift for aphorism and insight.”
To learn more about Jeff Stewart, you can watch his interviews on youtube.com.
Mountain Wordsmiths gatherings will always take place on Zoom. NCWN-West is also 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. Our group is informal, and we We welcome those 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 we share our thoughts about writing.
Come be inspired and productive while having fun in a place of beauty. Whether you’re already writing or looking for a place to begin, give yourself the gift of time in a setting conducive to creativity. Magic—inspiration, encouragement, and laughter—abounds inside the studio.
Gain editing and publishing tips from the instructor and learn from and support your classmates’ polished and unpolished work. Return home with the motivation to continue your writing and maybe even pursue publication.
Local residents usually qualify for a discount.
About the instructor: Karen Paul Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology. Her two poetry books are No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin Books) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press). She's is widely published in literary journals, including Plume, Gargoyle, and Prairie Schooner, and her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer's Almanac and by the US Poet Laureate on The Slowdown podcast. Karen founded the Side Door Poets in Atlanta in 2010 and still hosts the group monthly. At about the same time, she started a monthly Writers' Night Out in the N. Georgia Mountains and hosted it until recently. She is also a freelance writer and has taught writing workshops at local and international conferences and various venues. Karen is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network. www.karenpaulholmes.com
By Carroll S. Taylor
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Jill Jennings |
Jennings, a retired teacher, linguist and journalist, is the author of three full-length poetry books, The Poetry Alarm Clock (2008); Dead Man’s Flower (2012); and Pineapple Wine: Poems of Maui (2019). Her poems have been published in in The Atlanta Review, Oberon Poetry Magazine, Calamaro, Reach of Song (Georgia Poetry Society); Encore (The National Federation of State Poetry Societies); Cadence (Anthology of the Florida State Poets Association); Poetry of the Golden Generation (Kennesaw State University), and is a frequent contributor to Please See Me Literary Journal.
Her work has been featured on Kinver Radio in the U.K. In 2013, Jennings was awarded a U.S. Congressional Commendation for her career as an author and teacher of Latin and English. She has served as Vice President, and Secretary of the Georgia Poetry Society and as Co-Coordinator of the Johns Creek Poetry Group. She received her B.A. in Classics in 1969, followed by an M.A. in Classics in 1975, both from the University of Georgia. Since retiring she has kept busy teaching writing classes and setting up poetry slams for high school students. Originally from Georgia, she now lives with her husband in Fort Myers, Florida. Follow her at www.jilljennings.org.
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. Many writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because of the ability to join our gatherings from other locations across America.
Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Our group is informal, and we welcome those 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 we share our thoughts about writing.
We are happy to welcome Pat Zick, author and editor, as the new Cherokee County Representative for NCWN-West. Soon members in that county will be receiving emails as Pat reaches out to meet you all and have you get to know her. Our county reps are a very important part of NCWN-West leadership.
Pat is a highly published writer and manuscript doctor. Visit her website to learn more about her.
Wow, she has been a busy writer. Check out her fiction titles and where you can find them.
During the past couple of years of the pandemic, Pat has worked with narrators to produce her romance novels as audible books.
We will post more about Pat and her plans for writers in Cherokee County North Carolina in the coming weeks.
Congratulations, Pat, and I look forward to working with you.
January 2022 begins a new year for Mountain Wordsmiths, a writers’ gathering sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.
We are not holding face-to-face meetings for our writers’ groups because of COVID, but we are continuing our online presence with Mountain Wordsmiths, which will meet on the fourth Thursday of each month on Zoom. On Thursday morning, January 27, at 10:30 a.m., our featured speaker will be well-known local poet Mary Ricketson.
Ricketson, who is from Murphy, North Carolina, has been writing poetry for over twenty-five years. Her poems have been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, and Disorgananza (private collection 2000). She has also published a chapbook, I Hear the River Call my Name, as well as five full-length poetry collections: Hanging Dog Creek (2014), Shade and Shelter (2018), Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian (2019), Keeping in Place ( 2021), and Lira, Poems of a Woodland Woman (2021). 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.
Ricketson writes a monthly column, “Woman to Woman,” for Murphy’s weekly newspaper, The Cherokee Scout. She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, in private practice in Murphy, NC, and an organic blueberry farmer. More information about her may be found at www.maryricketson.com.
NC Writers’ Network-West is continuing to stay in touch and use technology to share our writing. We will offer writing events and writing classes online until we can safely meet face-to-face again.
We welcome those who were regulars at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a popular meeting, which met at Moss Memorial Library. Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Also, those who wish to participate in Open Mic may sign up upon entering the meeting. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.
Poetry Workshop on Zoom
Saturday, September 11th, 1:30-3:30 PM
Poet and professor, Catherine Carter offers a a two-hour workshop for NCWN-West via Zoom from 1:30-3:30 on Saturday, September 11th. The workshop focuses on using adding of internal slant rhyme to poems to echo off existing keywords and increase poems’ music, along with close attention to the impact of lines’ end words. For the first hour, poets will look at published poems and the ways in which their sounds enhance their content; for the second hour, participants will work on enhancing the sounds in a short poem of their own and, if they like, share the results with the group.
Participants are asked to have on hand a HARD COPY of a draft of a short poem of their own, less than one page long, for this activity.
Beginners and more experienced poets are all welcome.
Registration: Send a check or money order for $25 made to NCWN-West, %Glenda Beall, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904. We need to receive the fee by September 6, and we will then send you the link to the class.
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CAROL CRAWFORD |
Ed Southern, Executive Director of NCWN |