Showing posts with label Nancy Dillingham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nancy Dillingham. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Readings from the new anthology, "It's All Relative: Tales from the Tree," at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville, NC, February 28, 2016, 3:00 PM.


On Sunday, February 28, 2016, at 3:00 PM, there will be a reading at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 55 Haywood St, Asheville, NC. Local authors, contributors and co-editors Nancy Dillingham and Celia Miles will present their new anthology, It's All Relative: Tales from the Tree. This collection offers 50 stories and poems by Western North Carolina women authors, on the broad theme of family.

Rob Neufeld reviewed the book in the Asheville Citizen-Times and wrote that "there's a shadowy, down-to-earth and at times magical quality to the telling that makes the collection striking and significant."

Links to this post:




Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Curiosity Shop Bookstore, Murphy, NC, to host book signing Sat. 11/28/15, 11 AM to 3 PM for: It’s All Relative: Tales from the Tree, from 50 WNC Women Writers

Celia H. Miles and Nancy Dillingham, are co-editors and contributors of a new anthology by 50 women writers from western North Carolina, entitled: It’s All Relative: Tales from the Tree – celebrating the lives of women and their connections with their families.

Celia Miles, a native of Appalachia, was a long-time English instructor at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. She is retired and living in Asheville, does freelance editing and writing in various genres.

Nancy Dillingham is a writer, educator and a sixth-generation native from Big Ivy in Western North Carolina. She currently lives in Asheville, NC.

Local authors who contributed to It's all Relative, are from Clay County, Glenda Council Beall, M.C. Brooks, and Blanche L.Ledford. Cherokee County authors who contributed are, Lucy Cole Gratton, Mary Rickertson, and Peg Russell.


The Curiosity Shop Bookstore in Murphy, NC will host the book signing this Saturday, 11/28/2015, from 11 AM to 3 PM. Please come out and show your support for these local authors!

Glenda Council Beall, a Georgia native, lives in Hayesville, NC, and is the owner and director of 'Writers Circle Around the Table', a studio for writers. She also teaches writing in the continuing education department at Tri-County Community College in Murphy, NC. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and in anthologies. Beall has also published short stories and personal essays.
She has a poetry chapbook, entitled: Now Might as Well be Thenand a family history book Profiles and Pedigrees.
 
M.C. Brooks was a student in one of Glenda Council Beall's memoir writing class at Tri-County Community College in Murphy, NC.

Blanche L.Ledford is a native Appalachian poet, who co-authored the book Simplicity with her daughter Brenda Kay Ledford. Her work has been in many Old Mountain Press Anthologies, and the NCWN-West anthology, Echos Across the Blue Ridge. She also wrote the book, Planting by the Signs, which won the Paul Green Multi-media award from the NC Society of Historians, in 2012.

Lucy Cole Gratton, a native of Decatur, Georgia, has been writing for herself for many years, only lately seeking to publish with some success both nationally and internationally. She has been published in the Wild Goose Poetry Review, is the editor of the book, Red Fox Run,
and has a chapbook published entitled, Inagehi.
 
Mary Ricketson has had her poetry published in many journals, has a chapbook called, I Hear the River Call my Name, and is the author of Hanging Dog Creek. She is also published in the NCWN-West anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge and in the book, Red Fox Run. She also has a chapbook, I Hear the River Call My Name. Mary is the Cherokee County Representative for the North Carolina Writers Network-West and is the president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance.

Peg Russell is a poet and writer. She is the former Prose leader for the NCWN-West Prose Workshop and is published in the NCWN-West anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Russell also writes short essays.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Women's Spaces Women's Places Reviewed in The Laurel of Asheville

The Laurel of Asheville:The Arts and Culture of Communities across the Mountains in its February issue gave Women's Spaces Women's Places a half page review with a photo of the book cover. 

Celia Miles said, "I think The Laurel is absolutely the most gorgeous of Asheville's magazines, amazing photography and articles geared to the arts and "fine living," generally. Each issue has a page featuring two books; with us this month was Tracey Schmidt, poet and photographer, author of "I Have Fallen in Love with the World."



A large number of Netwest members have work in this beautiful anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Next Big Thing

Celia Miles who along with Nancy Dillingham has co-edited three anthologies of the work of women writers in Western North Carolina: Christmas Presence, Clothes Lines, and Women’s Spaces Women’s Places, has a new book coming out in 2013.
Celia is trying something new for her -- a blog tour, The Next Big Thing, with her latest post being a number of answers to interview questions on the subject of Sarranda's Heart.

I found it very interesting. I think you will also.
Visit Celia Miles at http://celiamiles.com/ to see the books she has authored and the anthologies she has published.


Sarranda's Heart is a sequel to this book that was published in 2006

Thursday, May 12, 2011

COFFEE WITH THE POETS: NANCY DILLINGHAM & CELIA MILES


THIS MONTH'S SYLVA COFFEE WITH THE POETS (10:30 A.M. , MAY 19, AT CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE) WILL WELCOME POET NANCY DILLINGHAM AND FICTION WRITER CELIA MILES. SHE AND CELIA ARE THE EDITORS OF THE ANTHOLOGIES CHRISTMAS PRESENCE, CLOTHESLINES AND A FORTHCOMING ANTHOLOGY FOCUSED ON WOMEN FINDING THEIR "PLACE." NANCY AND CELIA WILL DISCUSS THEIR ADVENTURES AS EDITORS, AND NANCY WILL READ FROM HER NEW BOOK OF POETRY. THIS PROMISES TO BE A FASCINATING PROGRAM, SO PLEASE JOIN US FOR COFFEE AND TREATS, BOTH EDIBLE AND LITERARY.



Celia's novels are A Thyme for Love, ThymeTable Mill, Mattie’s Girl: An Appalachian Childhood, Sarranda, and (in 2010) Journey to Stenness. Two short story collections are On a Slant: A Collection of Stories and Islands One and All: Stories and Otherwise. Nancy's books of poetry include include Home, recently nominated for a SIBA book Award in Poetry. Here's an interesting post from Kaye w. Barley's blog. http://www.meanderingsandmuses.com/2010/09/movin-on-by-nancy-dillingham.html.



Monday, October 26, 2009

COLLOQUY IN BLACK AND WHITE by NANCY DILLINGHAM




Nancy Dillingham has a new book of poetry out from Catawba Publishers (www.catawbapublishing.com) titled Colloquy in Black and White. The poems are sometimes stark, always accessible. Nancy is a 6th generation Dillinghamm from Big Ivy in western North Carolina. She has published several books of poetry, as well as essays and articles. She lives in Asheville with her cat named Serendipity.


Nancy has been growing by leaps and bounds as a poet, and this new collection shows ample evidence of her growth. She is becoming a fearless poet, taking on subjects that might daunt others. She's a mountain woman who knows her landscape and its dark places well.

She can confront them, all the while singing the light and the love of place. She reads widely, she listens, she challenges herself, without losing the moorings that keep her steady as a poet and an inhabitant of these mountains. She will be at the Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair, and I hope that other festivals and reading series across the state will begin to take notice of her work.




Suite on Love

Sitting here
fifty years later
as you whisper me
happy birthday
and our younguns
sing around us
grown
with children of their own

I want to say
it is you
not the candles
on the cake
that takes my breath away

Too late coming to love
I made the usual blunders

A blush away from a baby
it was a tom-fool thing
for me to do
bringing you
country ham
cured sweet as honey
biscuits and gravy
stack cake

How could
I lie
with you
after you left me
for a roll
in the hay
with the first hussy
that gave you the eye?


Spitfire
you called me later
bleeding
like a stuck pig
where I struck
you with a piece
of stove wood
and you slapped me

Sitting here
as I think of all the pain
yours is the only music I hear
and I want to tell you
everything still seems the same
like the first time
clear as a bell

right as rain





Legacy

My aunt sat on her front porch
in a chair bottomed with strips of tires
slinging her crossed leg, dipping snuff

Your great-grandmother ruled
with an iron hand
and Grandpa was a rounder, she said

Double Dillinghams they were
cousins marrying cousins
Elbert and Mary

Owned land as far as the eye could see
all the way up to the Coleman Boundary

They say he courted her by bringing armfuls of flowers
picked by the roadside or out of other people's yards
traded his mule for a chestnut mare

Carried her around in a hand basket after they married
all the while making time with the hired help

The house stood right over there on the hill
where the graveyard is today--they gave the land

A smile threatened the corners of my aunt's wrinkled mouth
and a small rivulet of snuff ran down one side

After he died
Grandma didn't take to widow's weeds
said they didn't become her

She'd sit on the porch cooling Sunday afternoons in the summer
after cooking cut-off corn and baking soft butter biscuits
She'd throw back her head and cackle

I ought to have taken me a young lover
just to bedevil Elbert, she'd say

But he'd have dragged chains up and down the stairs at night
and, after my laying out, danced on my grave for spite

My aunt's face softened
A long time passed before she spoke again

We grandchildren would play on the porch
run the length of it back and forth
like fighting fire

or stand under the arbor eating pink grapes
clear as glass and sweet as honey
bees buzzing a halo over our heads

Sometimes when I look really hard
I can just see Grandma
coming over the ridge

her bright apron glowing
waving like a flag
calling me home


Signs

Whenever you go looking for what’s lost, everything is a sign.”
Eudora Welty


I have not bled
this month, Mother
and I am afraid

Just yesterday
a bird flew into the living room
losing its way

I didn’t sleep a wink last night
A dog howled outside my window
and the clock didn’t strike

Must have been midnight
I saw Will’s first wife plain as day
standing over my bed

glistening with sweat
crying with no sound
holding her dead baby

all the while
Will sleeping quietly
beside me

I felt the same fear
I saw in her face
this time last year

You remember, don’t you, Mother?
You asked me to help with the birthing
It was my first time

You cut cotton strips
and bound her wrists
to the bedposts

I placed the small, round stick
you handed me
into her mouth

bathed her face
as you commanded her
to bear down

I remember most the silence
as I watched you wrap the baby—stillborn
in the same soft cloth

And I can never forget the look
in Will’s eyes at the funeral
when he finally raised them

and gazed at me
as if seeing me
for the first time

Tiny shivers
ran up and down my spine
and my whole body shook

as he took a sprig of white lilac
from his wife’s casket
and handed it to me

He’s out there now
on the front porch
drinking his coffee

staring over the valley
looking at rows and rows
of newly-planted fields

seeing the cattle
grazing on the hill
below the graveyard

the headstone visible still
in its rising up
and shining in the light



Daddy’s Girl


With a wink and a leer
her daddy holds
the cold open can of beer
tantalizingly near

tickling her nose
Through bow-like lips
eager as a baby bird
she sates her thirst

with a single sip
laughs a giggly
hiccupping laugh
then burps

Putting up one perfect hand
she catches a trickle of froth
as it bursts like broth
from her soft pink mouth










Saturday, October 10, 2009

FASHIONS FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT

Recently I acquired a copy of Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham's new anthology, Clothes Lines, a book filled with stories and poems about, what else, clothes.


Among the writers I know in this book are Nancy Sales Cash, author of three novels and she is working on number four. Nancy is a native of Murphy, NC and spends much time in the Cherokee and Clay county areas. We met at the Daily Grind and Curiosity Shop Bookstore, had a cup of coffee and discussed readings of Clothes Lines and my poetry book Now Might As Well Be Then.



Some of the writers in the far southwest area of North Carolina and north Georgia who have work in Clothes Lines are Kathryn Stripling Byer, Joyce Foster, Nancy Sales Cash, Karen Paul Holmes, Carole R. Thompson, Glenda Barrett, Jo Carolyn Beebe, Janice Townley Moore, Blanche Ledford and Brenda Kay Ledford, and Peg Russell.

A number of our Netwest members throughout the region also appear in this interesting book by 75 western North Carolina Women.

Celia and Nancy published Christmas Presence last year through Catawba Press and used the same press for Clothes Lines. The book is made more interesting by the use of a few black and white pictures all done by Mary Alice Ramsey.
Be on the lookout for readings from this anthology in your town.

Friday, October 9, 2009

CLOTHES LINES IS HERE!


No, not my clotheslines, which right now have damp garments hanging because I forgot to bring them inside last night. No, I mean the anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. These clothes lines don't have anything soggy about them. Take a look at the cover. It looks like a shawl to be thrown over the shoulders when you are heading out to make the scene! The poem on the back cover (below) by Nancy Dillingham is worth wearing! (I've always wanted to wear a poem.)

More about this book tomorrow.


Finding Our Line

Every day
we shape our clay
from the inside out
giving it cachet.

But sometimes
it’s the clothes we wear
that give us away
that give us sway

Curves, straight lines
diagonals, in-your-face style
au courant, de rigueur
faux, retro

Similarly
we define ourselves as writers
shape our style

The curve of the plot
the turn of the phrase
the tone of the prose--
it’s the pattern of patter that matters

We preen, we pose
give color to character
and landscape
decorate and align

weaving a provocative story
stitching a tall tale
spinning a yarn
threading a theme

piecing a poem
with precision and panache
punctuating with élan
finding our line

Nancy Dillingham

CLOTHESLINES
Edited by Celia H. Miles and Nancy Dillingham ISBN 978-1-59712-355-690000

Friday, February 20, 2009

Editors of Christmas Presence offer new opportunity

We are soliciting
Material from women writers in western North Carolina
For a second book project

Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham want your stories, memoirs, essays/reflections, poems for an anthology about the garments we wear—metaphorically, symbolically, literally---from hair bow to bra to Birkenstocks, from christening gown to prom dress, from waitress uniform to nine-to-five stiletto heels.

We expect an October 2009 publication date, in time to market the book alongside the 2008 Christmas Presence.

General Guidelines

i Submit no more than 2000 words
i Previously published material is fine–as long as you provide acknowledgments
i You retain all rights to your material
i Send in an email attachment (or contact us)–in Ms Word or RTF
i Formatting for submissions:

Double space with one-inch margins
Left justify only
Center or left justify title

Use 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred) for body and title

i Editing is a “given,” but we will try to ask about changes
i DEADLINE: MAY 2, 2009
i In return for your effort and creativity, you will receive

A complimentary copy of the book
An opportunity to buy additional copies at reduced cost
A publication party and potential readings/signings

i Contact Information:
Celia Miles (277-6910)> celiamiles@fastmail.fm
Nancy Dillingham (254-3143)> nandilly@earthlink.net

We are excited about compiling an interesting and entertaining collection of theme-related work from women writers in this region. We know you’re out there! So, we invite you to look into your clothes closet (past or present), and if you have a story to tell, a memory to share, a point of view to espouse, send it along. We promise to treat it with care.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Christmas Presence authors signing in Hayesville,NC Dec. 6

Phillips and Lloyd Books on the square in Hayesville, NC

Brenda Kay Ledford of Hayesville, NC is one of the 45 women writers in the anthology Christmas Presence, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham.

Glenda Barrett of Hiawassee, GA wrote "The French Harp" a true story about her beloved grandmother, which is included in Christmas Presence.

Carole Thompson of Blairsville, GA Netwest Rep.
Her story is "A Bag of Sugar for Paula" an inspiring story that takes place in a most unlikely place - a grocery store.

Also on hand Saturday for signing is Cherokee County native, Nancy Sales Cash, author of Ritual River.









Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Christmas Anthology of WNC Women writers

Thanks to editors Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, forty-five western North Carolina women writers have had their Christmas stories, poetry, essays, or memoirs, published in an anthology titled "Christmas Presence." It is a beautifully bound book "filled with the unique voices of women writers who have roots in and connections to western North Carolina. These works add seasoning to the cultural landscape of a region already rich in custom and lore. Most of the writers are members of the NCWN and include Glenda Barrett, Celia Miles, Nancy Dillingham, Dee Dee Parker, Nancy Purcell, Susan Snowden, Barbara Ledford Wright, Lana Hendershott, to name a few. The book, "Christmas Presence," can be ordered from Catawba Publishing Company at (704) 717-8452 or http://www.catawbapublishing.com/. It will be available in local book stores and if not, they can get it for you. ISBN #: 978-1-59712-259-7. The stories will bring back fond holiday memories and the book would make a fine gift for a reading friend.

The signings are listed below--jus ignore the first two. We're hoping for an Osondu signing in Waynesville and one in Marshall.


AUTHOR EVENTS
10-12:00, Oct. 25, Highland Books, 277 N. Broad St., Brevard, NC ( 884-2424)---in conjunction with the college's homecoming, Celia with Nancy Purcell (and Lana Hendershott read) and former dean/author E. Roberts (sold 12 books and the store kept 8, plus sold 10 of my two novels)
10-3:00, Nov. 1, Sanctuary of Stuff, Farm N Art, Woodfin, NC---a first time, long-day event; come and see us

11-1:00, Nov. 7, AB Tech, Holly Library (254-1921)--refreshments

10-12:00, Nov. 8, Curiosity Shop, 48 Valley River Ave., Murphy (835-7433)---with Nancy Sales Cash; Carole, Barbara, Brenda, others in the area, please come and join us; also 1:00-3:00 in Andrews, Curiosity Shop.

6:00, Nov. 19, Accent on Books, 854 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, (252-6255)--Byron Ballard arranged this; all who wish to read, please let us know
1-5:00, Nov. 29, Mountain Made, Grove Arcade, downtown Asheville (350-0307)--come by and visit; we'll be outside the store--and at Mountain Lore in Hendersonville 10:00-11:30)

2-4:00, Dec. 2, Hendersonville Library--Sherry Austin will be moderating this event; refreshments offered; all you H'ville writers, let us know if you wish to read; a two-hour slot but an hour or so of readings should be sufficient. Susan Snowden is doing publicity in Henderson County.

12-3:00, Dec. 6, Book Fair, McDowell Public Library, Old Fort--this event was formerly held in the historic Carson House; Julia N. Duncan will read; others welcome

10:45, Dec. 10, Givens Estates, 2360 Sweeten Creek Road (274-4800)--Mary Lou Welther arranged this event; we're hoping those authors/storytellers nearby will participate

Authors' bios reveal they have more than 45 published books among them.




This article by Nancy Purcell, Netwest Rep from Transylvania County, Brevard, NC

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Christmas Anthology by WNC women

Thanks to editors Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, forty-five western North Carolina women writers have had their Christmas stories, poetry, essays, or memoirs, published in an anthology titled "Christmas Presence." It is a beautifully bound book "filled with the unique voices of women writers who have roots in and connections to western North Carolina. These works add seasoning to the cultural landscape of a region already rich in custom and lore. Most of the writers are members of the NCWN and include Glenda Barrett, Celia Miles, Nancy Dillingham, Dee Dee Parker, Nancy Purcell, Susan Snowden, Barbara Ledford Wright, Lana Hendershott, to name a few. The book, "Christmas Presence," can be ordered from Catawba Publishing Company at (704) 717-8452 or http://www.catawbapublishing.com/. It will be available in local book stores and if not, they can get it for you. ISBN #: 978-1-59712-259-7. The stories will bring back fond holiday memories and the book would make a fine gift for a reading friend.

Editor Celia Miles and Nancy Purcell will be reading stories from "Christmas Presence" at Highland Book Store in Brevard, across the street from the college, between 10am and 12 noon on October 25. Please join us for this early touch of holiday spirit. The event will be in conjunction with Brevard College's Homecoming Weekend. Books will be available for sale.