Coffee with the Poets and Writers features writers Staci Lynn Bell and Joan M. Howard on June 21, 2017, 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers will meet June 21, 2017, 10:30 AM at Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. Staci Lynn Bell and Joan Howard will be featured members this month. 

Staci Lynn Bell, a Chicago native, has lived in Western North Carolina for the past 6 years. Having moved many times as a child, her best friends were her imagination, books and animals. Staci attended University of Wisconsin, Madison majoring in Communications. She relocated to SW Florida, gaining recognition as a 25 year radio and television personality and animal advocate.  She has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, 234 Journal, Old Mountain Press Anthologies and in Kakalak 2016. Bell has both a poem and short story in Wolf Warriors: The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Anthology. Staci is a member of the NCWN.

Joan M. Howard lives in Hiawassee and in Athens, Georgia. Joan loves to kayak on Lake Chatuge and take long walks on the Chatuge Dam. She holds a BA from Indiana University and an MA from the University of Oregon. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies.  She published a poetry collection recently, Death and Empathy: My Sister Web, which is in memory of her sister, Webster and her husband Jack.

It has been said that, “Howard’s poetry will not only make you ache for something or someone lost; it will stitch together a broken heart.”

The public is invited to attend Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Everyone is invited to take part in Open Mic and read a poem or short piece of prose. 

This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network West, a program of the state literary organization, North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com for more information.

Local Author Bob Grove to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, Wednesday, May 17, 2017, at 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly meeting at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, will feature Bob Grove on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, at 10:30 AM. Grove is a well-published author, and a member of NCWN-West. He facilitates the Netwest Prose Critique Group each month at Tri-County Community College.

Grove has been an ABC-TV public affairs director, an on-air personality, and the founder and publisher of Monitoring Times Magazine. He is an officer with the Ridgeline Literary Alliance, and he has published seventeen books and hundreds of articles in sixteen national magazines.

Bob Grove was born in Cleveland, OH. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at Kent State University and his Master of Science at Florida Atlantic University. His diversified curriculum enabled him to teach courses in English, journalism, creative writing, physics, chemistry, biology and psychology.

Now retired after 35 years as founder of Grove Enterprises, Grove has more time to write. Most recently, he published a mystery novella, Secrets of Magnolia Manor, his memoir, Misadventures of an Only Child, a collection of children’s stories Adventures of Kaylie and Jimmy, and has written several flash fiction stories.

He has been awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals in the Silver Arts Competition in the Cherokee County, NC senior games, in their literature competition.

Bob’s public readings are popular as a performance art form, typified by his annual December reading, in costume and dialect, of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol at the John C. Campbell Folk School. All his publications are available on Amazon Kindle, and he can be found online at www.bobgrove.org . Bob's readings entertain and his audience laughs with delight at his humor.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by the NC Writers Network-West, a program of the NC Writers’ Network, the largest literary organization in the state. The community is invited to attend and take part in the Open Mic reading, so bring a couple of poems or a short prose piece.

The group often goes to lunch at Angelo’s restaurant on the square in Hayesville after the reading and guests are invited to join them.

Contact Glenda Beall at: 828-389-4441

Writers Circle Around the Table

glendabeall@msn.com

www.glendacouncilbeall.com

Students of Clay County, NC, receive awards for Poetry and Songwriting Lyrics April 25, 2017, co-sponsored by NCWN-West and the Clay Co. Historical and Arts Council

Winners of the Clay County Middle & High School Poetry & Songwriting Lyric Contest, 2017

 

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, Hayesville Middle and High Schools received awards for their entries in the Poetry and Songwriting Lyric Contests. The Clay County Historical and Arts Council, and the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West gave awards. The Copper Door Restaurant, Brothers Willow Ranch Restaurant, Rib Country in Hayesville, Rib Country in Hiawassee, Mary’s Southern Grill, and Chevelle’s in Hayesville donated NCWN-West’s awards.

Reba Beck from the Clay County Historical and Arts Council and Joan Ellen Gage, from the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, initiated and co-sponsored the contest, which will become an annual event in Clay County Schools.

Rosemary Rhodes Royston

Winners of the Middle School Contest for Poetry were: 1st place, Brodi Carter, 2nd place, Annessca Guyette, and 3rd place Whitley Sumpter. There were no entries for Songwriting Lyrics for the Middle school.

Winners of the High School Contest for Poetry were: 1st place, Dawson Mitchell, 2nd place, Abigail Combs, and 3rd place Montana Walker. Honorable mention was awarded to Sage Cook, and Austin Hobbs.

Winners of the High School Contest for Songwriting Lyrics were: 1st place,
 Jade Welch, 2nd placeHaley Odom, and 3rd place Victoria Beck. Judges for the contests included author Rosemary Rhodes Royston, poet, author, and NCWN-West representative, and songwriters Rob Tiger, Wyatt Espalin, and Brian Kruger. Program Coordinator for NCWN-West, Glenda Council Beall, read in place of Rosemary Rhodes Royston, from the book, “Splitting the Soil”, by Royston.

Local Poet Mary Ricketson has poem published in Whispers in the Wind, an international online journal

Mary Ricketson

Mary Ricketson's poem, "Morsels", was published in Whispers in the Wind, an international online journal.  Here is the link to the poem:

http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-04-20T19:32:00-07:00&max-results=30

Whispers is an international blog by Karen O'Leary that emphasizes poets being in community with each other.  Comments are invited.  Submission is easy, see guidelines on their website. 

Mary Ricketson, Murphy NC, has been writing poetry 20 years.  She is inspired by nature and her work as a mental health counselor.  Her poetry has 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. Additionally, Ricketson has a chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name, and a full length collection of poetry, Hanging Dog Creek, published by Future Cycle Press. 

Currently Mary is using her own poetry to present empowerment workshops, combining roles as writer and her helping role as a therapist. Mary Ricketson’s poems and activities relate with nature, facilitate talk about a personal path and focus on growth in ordinary and unusual times.

Ricketson is the Cherokee County representative to North Carolina Writers Network-West, and president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance. She won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest, and writes a monthly column, "Women to Women", for The Cherokee Scout.  

Ricketson is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor and an organic blueberry farmer.

The Literary Hour at John C. Campbell Folk School, to have open mic on February 16, 2017, 7:00 PM, Brasstown, NC

Co-sponsored by the John C. Campbell Folk School and the North Carolina Writers' Network-West

Brasstown, NC's John Campbell Folk School readings Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, to feature writers Mary Michelle Keller & Lucy Cole Gratton

Mary Michelle Keller

Lucy Cole Gratton

On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7:00 PM, the John Campbell Folk School and NC Writers Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus, Brasstown, NC. This is being held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise notified. The reading is free of charge and open to the public. Poets and writers Mary Michelle Keller and Lucy Cole Gratton will be the featured readers, returning to the Folk School as one of the more entertaining pair of readers.

Mary Michelle Keller has lived in Town County 20 years. It is here that she began to write poetry followed by the natural progression into prose. She is a musician, artist and photographer. Keller says that all those loves give root to her poetry as inspiration. Her poem, As The Deer, published in the anthology, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, was inspired by an old hymn by the same name that she plays on the dulcimer.

Keller enjoys words; moving them around on paper until a poem, short story or essay emerges. She finds pleasure in reading to a few or many, be it her own words or those of others, and says reading at the Folk School is always a treat. Keller always enjoys reading her pieces to locals and students of the school.

Lucy Cole Gratton is a retired CPA who has lived in the Murphy area over 20 years. She received her BA in mathematics from Agnes Scott College, her MEd in secondary math from the University of Florida and her accounting hours from Florida Atlantic University.

Since her retirement she served as Executive Director for the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition, Inc for several years and continues to assist with the accounting and tax preparation for the Coalition as a volunteer. She is a member and serves as Treasurer of the Mountain Community Chorus Inc., which rehearses at Young Harris College, presenting a concert each spring and Christmas.

Gratton is a Cherokee County representative for NCWN and a member of NCWN-West. She coordinates the program at John Campbell Folk School for NCWN-West and serves as moderator. Her poems include various topics but predominantly center around her concern for the environments and her home in the woods of Lake Appalachia. Gratton’s writing has been published in various venues but has had limited publication since she writes predominantly for the love of writing, sharing it with family and friends.

Contact: Lucy Cole Gratton, Cherokee County Representative –NCWN-West

828-494-2914 
lgratton@hughes.net