Upcoming Events

Book Festival in Atlanta is Worth the Trip


Labor Day Weekend: Karen Paul Holmes and many other poets and authors will appear at the largest independent book festival in the country. September 2-4. Full schedule is here: Decatur Book Festival








Writers' Night Out: Jim May To Read from His New Book

Friday, Sept. 9: Young Harris College professors, Chelsea Rathburn and James May, will read their award-winning poems at Writers' Night Out at 7 pm. at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA.

The married couple are both well-published poets who moved to the area from Atlanta to teach English and creative writing at Young Harris College in 2013. Social hour begins at 6 p.m. (dinner available for purchase upstairs in The View Grill but please arrive no later than 6) with the reading at 7 p.m. in the ballroom. An open microphone follows for those who’d like to showcase their own writing.

Rathburn is author of two full-length poetry collections, A Raft of Grief (Autumn House Press, 2013) and The Shifting Line, winner of the 2005 Richard Wilbur Award, as well as a poetry chapbook, Unused Lines (Aralia Press, 2004). Her poems have appeared in many prestigious journals such as The Atlantic, Poetry, The New Republic, The Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and New England Review, and her prose has appeared in Creative Nonfiction. In 2009, she received a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She directs the creative writing program at YHC.

May is the author of Unquiet Things (Louisiana State University Press, 2016).  The winner of the Poetry Society of America’s Cecil Hemley Memorial Award in 2016, his poems have appeared in The Missouri Review, New England Review, New Ohio Review, The New Republic, Rattle, The Southern Review and elsewhere. The former editor of New South, he has received scholarships from The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Inprint, and the Krakow Poetry Seminar. In 2013, he won the Collins Award from Birmingham Poetry Review.

All-Star Lineup on June 10: Ron Moran & Jonathan K Rice

Two Well-Published NC Poets to Read at Writers' Night Out, Blairsville

Ronald Moran, former Clemson professor, dean, and a Fulbright Lecturer, joins editor Jonathan K. Rice to share their work at Writers’ Night Out on Friday, June 10. The 7 p.m. reading will be followed by an open microphone for those who’d like to share their own work. The event is free and open to the public at the Union CountyCommunity Center in the heart of Blairsville, GA

Moran has published 13 collections of poetry. The most recent, Eye of the World, was just released by Clemson University Press. Of it, Poet David Kirby writes, “…this grateful, gifted poet teaches us how to burrow into and recognize the riches in our own lives.” Moran has also written two books of criticism (one coauthored) and has had more than 500 poems, essays, and reviews published in many journals, including Connecticut Poetry Review, Emrys Journal, Evening Street Review, Louisiana Review, Northwest Review, South Carolina Review,  Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Thomas Wolfe Review, and The Wallace Stevens Journal.  He has won several awards and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Moran’s writings and memorabilia about them are archived in Special Collections of the James B. Duke Library at Furman University.  He lives in Simpsonville, SC. 

Rice is founding editor and publisher of Iodine Poetry Journal, as well as co-editor of Kakalak 2016. His latest poetry collection is Killing Time (Main Street Rag, 2015). Other books include Shooting Pool with a Cellist (Main Street Rag, 2003) and Ukulele and Other Poems (Main Street Rag, 2006). His poetry has appeared in many publications. He’s also been a longtime host of poetry readings in Charlotte, NC, where he lives with his family. In 2012 he received the Irene Blair Honeycutt Legacy Award for outstanding service in support of local and regional writers, awarded by Central Piedmont Community College. As a visual artist, Rice’s work has been featured as cover art on books, as well as in online magazines.

The next day, June 11, Rice will teach a poetry class from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Writers Circle in Hayesville. For more information on the class, please see http://www.glendacouncilbeall.com/p/schedule.html - .V07szmZrUpI

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by NC Writers Network-West and takes place on the second Friday of the month. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The Union County CommunityCenter hosts the event at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092. Food is available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 6 pm to get served.  For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com

Open Mic and CWP in Sylva, NC February 18, 19th

Upcoming Events at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC

Coffee with the Poet Featuring Catherine Carter

02/18/2016 - 10:30AM
The Coffee with the Poet series continues on Thursday, February 18th at 10:30 a.m. at City Lights Bookstore. The February gathering will feature poet and professor, Catherine Carter. She is the author of Growing Gills, Swamp Monster and the chapbook Marks of the Witch. She is the Jackson County Rep for NCWN West.

Catherine directs the English Education program at Western Carolina University. She also teaches education, writing, and literature courses, and publishes and researches in poetry, American literature, and English Education....




NetWest Open Mic

02/19/2016 - 7:00PM
The NetWest program of the North Carolina Writers Network and City Lights Bookstore will host an open mic night at the bookstore on Friday, February 19th at 7 p.m. Folks are encouraged to bring their poetry or short pieces to share. The North Carolina Writers' Network connects, promotes, and serves the writers of this state. They provide education in the craft and business of writing, opportunities for recognition and critique of literary work, resources for writers at all stages of...



Ann Miller Woodford Presentation

02/20/2016 - 3:00PM
Ann Miller Woodford will present her book, When All God’s Children Get Together on Saturday, February 20th at 3 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore. Her book celebrates the lives and music of African American people in far western North Carolina. Ann Miller Woodford grew up in Andrews, NC during segregation. She is the founder One Dozen Who Care Inc., a nonprofit that works to create leadership capacity and build community unity in far western North Carolina. ODWC partnered with Ann to...




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