CarolLynn Jones and Mary Ricketson Reading at Literary Hour

  Local writers CarolLynn Jones and Mary Ricketson will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, May 18, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

CarolLynn Jones

CarolLynn Jones is the author of “Danya,” a historical novel.  It is a fictionalized account, based on memoirs by survivors of the Russian communist revolution, which follows the lives of two families struggling in a world going mad with sweeping cultural, religious, and political upheaval.  The novel is available on Amazon.  Jones studied art and illustration at Syracuse University and started a greeting card business which supplied cards to stores throughout the country.  She has traveled in Russia and spent two weeks living with a Russian family.  She will be reading from a true story of hope and redemption.

Mary Ricketson

Mary Ricketson is an award-winning poet, mental health counselor, and blueberry farmer who lives in Murphy.  Her published collections are “I Hear the River Call My Name,” “Hanging Dog Creek,” “Shade and Shelter,” “Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian,” “Keeping in Place,” and “Lira, Poems of a Woodland Woman,” and “Precious the Mule.”  Ricketson 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.  She is also known for her monthly column, “Woman to Woman,” which runs in “The Cherokee Scout.”

Writer and poet Glenda Beall, coordinator for NCWN-West, will host the
event.  The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November.  “Our goals for the Literary Hour at the folk school are to bring local writers and any member of NCWN who is in the area to the campus to share their work,” Beall said.

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/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Poet and Writer Abbie Taylor to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

By Carroll S. Taylor
Guest Writer

 

Abbie Taylor

            Wyoming writer and poet Abbie Johnson Taylor will be the featured reader for this month’s gathering of Mountain Wordsmiths. The group will meet Thursday, March 23, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. One of the benefits of meeting online is the ability to host writers from all areas of the country. Taylor attends our gathering each month despite the early time difference between North Carolina and her home in Wyoming.
            She is the author of three novels, two poetry collections, and a memoir. She is currently working on a short story collection she hopes to publish this year. Her work has appeared in The Weekly Avocet, Magnets and Ladders, and other publications.
            Taylor is visually impaired and lives in Sheridan, WY, where for six years, she cared for her late husband who was totally blind and partially paralyzed by two strokes soon after they were married. With a BA in music, she worked as a registered music therapist with nursing home residents for 15 years before getting married and writing full-time. She also taught Braille, facilitated a support group for blind and visually impaired adults, and served on the advisory board to a trust fund that provides adaptive equipment and services to blind and visually impaired children and adults. To learn more about her, visit her website at: https://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com
            NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We continue to 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.
           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.

                                         

Congratulations to John Desjarlais' for this recent publication

John Desjarlais is a member of NCWN West and lives in western NC

John Desjarlais' poem "The Museum of Unfinished Work" was accepted for publication in The Rockford Review's Winter 2022 issue.

A former producer with Wisconsin Public Radio, John has published three historical novels, three mysteries, and short fiction in a variety of periodicals including Critic, Lit Noir, Conclave, and Dappled Things. He lives in Hendersonville, NC.

www.johndesjarlais.com
Explore Higher Mysteries

Novelist Charles Baxter to read at Young Harris College on Tuesday, October 10, 2017,

Acclaimed novelist Charles Baxter will read at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, on Tuesday, October 10,2017, at 7 p.m. in the Rollins Campus Center. The reading is free and open to the public. Baxter is the author of five novels, including the best-seller The Feast of Love, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, as well as the short story collection There’s Something I Want You to Do, which the New York Times Book Review dubbed “winning and ingenious.” Baxter, who teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Minnesota, has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

 
https://www.yhc.edu/about/news-media/events

MEET TERRY KAY, AWARD WINNING AUTHOR

Meet Terry Kay, award winning author who is featured fiction writer at A Day for Writers, May 6, 2017, in Sylva, NC, Jackson County Public Library.

He is the author of seventeen published books, including the 2014 release of Song of the Vagabond Bird.

His other works include The Seventh Mirror, The Greats of Cuttercane, Bogmeadow's Wish, The Book of Marie, To Dance With the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli, The Year the Lights Came On, To Whom the Angel Spoke, as well as a book of essays, Special K: The Wisdom of Terry Kay.

Three of his novels have been produced as Hallmark Hall of  Fame movies –To Dance With the White Dog, The Runaway and The Valley of Light. Additionally, a Japanese film based on To Dance With the White Dog was produced. His books have been published in more than twenty foreign languages, with To Dance With the White Dog selling two million copies in Japan.

An essayist and regional Emmy-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist, Kay's work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.
LaGrange College and Mercer University have recognized his work with honorary doctorate degrees. Atlanta Writers Club named their annual fiction award the Terry Kay Prize for Fiction, 2015.

In 2011, Kay was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writers Association. He has received the Georgia Author of the Year award four times and in 2004 was presented with the Townsend Prize, considered the state's top literary award.

In 2006, Kay was inducted in Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, and in 2009 he was the recipient of the Governor's Award in the Humanities (GA), 2009.

In 2007, Kay was presented the Stanley W. Lindberg Award, named for the late editor of The Georgia Review and considered one of the state's most prestigious literary honors, given for an individual's significant contribution to the preservation and celebration of Georgia's literary heritage.

Kay’s best-known book, To Dance With the White Dog, was made into an award-winning film. Of this book, Anne Rivers Siddons said, “(This) is what literature is – or should be – all about, and what the South at its best still is. Terry Kay is simply a miraculous writer, gifted with poetry, integrity and rare vision.”

A native of Hart County, GA, Kay and his wife now reside in Athens, GA.

Learn more here

Presenters for A Day for Writers

NEW WRITING STUDIO. COME WRITE

NEW WRITING STUDIO AT
JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL
--Nancy Simpson

The new writing studio is located on the grounds
at Orchard House, John C. Campbell Folk School (JCCFS)in Brasstown, North Carolina. The school itself is 83 years
old, world famous for devotion to arts and crafts The writing program only 13 years old, but the writing studio is brand spanking new.

Recently, I had an opportunity to teach the first class in the new studio, with state of the art computers, printer,copier, and all a writer would need including paper, paper.

My feet hardly touched ground all week as I watched my students working. Each had a writing space with their own computer and printer set up. We had an oval table to use for critiquing sessions, and we had the living room of Orchard House to sprawl out and relax in for teaching sessions and class discussions.

I’ve been teaching writing at the folk school for years,but I have never before seen such a large amount of writing started and finished in one week. The school itself, with sparks of creative energy popping, is a magical place to begin with. The new studio is a welcoming and conducive place for writers.

I invite you to come write with us for a week. If you have already taken writing classes at the folk school,come back as soon as you can. You may walk on air as
I have been doing. You will write, I promise.

If you have never been to the folk school, give it serious thought. Get a catalog, read the class descriptions,make your choice. Scholarships are available based on
financial need . The school offers half price to those living in specific mountain counties. Call the toll free number,check out the web site or e mail me with your questions at nance@dnet.net. Phone. 1800 FOLK-SCH.




John C. Campbell Folk School
Six SUMMER WRITING CLASSES:

May 25-30, 2008 - Spinning Words Into Gold with
Maureen Ryan Griffin. This class will jump start
your writing and and will provide tools to keepyour words flowing. Tap into the Who, Why, When, Where,What and How of Writing. All levels welcome.


June 22- 28, 2008 TOOLS OF THE TRADE, PROFESSIONAL WRITING
with Wendy Webb. The focus is on the short story, novel,and play writing.

June 29-July 5, 2008 FICTION, SHORT AND LONG with Bobbie Pell. Explore the nuggets of your experience that are universal and pop them into your fiction. All levels are welcome.

July 6-11, 2008 WRITING LIFE STORIES with Vickie Hunt.Make headway in creating a short story, personal essay or a memoir essay. All levels are welcome.

July 13-19, 2008 TO BE CONTINUED with Ruth Zehfuss. Focus on getting started
and learning techniques to keep you writing.

July 27-August 1, 2008 YOUR POETRY. LET’S HEAR IT,with Nancy Simpson. Learn to make your poetry sing with sound. Learn how to encapsulate emotion in your poems.
Class is for practicing free verse poets. How and where to publish will be discussed and a list of markets will be given.

See catalog for complete class listing and class descriptions