A Walk Down Memory Lane

In my files, I have pictures taken at NCWN West events and photos used in articles I've written about our members. I thought I'd share some of them today.

Remember?

Glenda Barrett on right with her guest

Glenda, Wayne, Jayne, Lana, Nancy S, Nancy P, JC Walkup

Jo Carolyn Beebe 

Janice Moore, Karen Holmes, Brenda Ledford, Jo Carolyn Beebe, Carole Thompson

Lana Hendershott 

Paul Donovan, Karen Holmes, Glenda Beall

Gary Carden

Ed Southern, Executive Director of NCWN, at City Lights Books in Sylva

Leave a comment if you remember when or where the picture was taken.

Our local Irish poet Paul Donovan says he writes poetry as a hobby, but he has published an autobiographical poetry book, Ramblings of an Idiot. He is working on another book and we look forward to seeing what he will offer in this one. Paul is a Reiki Master and teaches spiritual writing classes at Writers Circle. Netwest’s first anthology, Lights in the Mountains, came to fruition because of Paul’s early ideas and suggestions. He began the Cherokee County High Schools Poetry and Essay contest several years ago and continues to be a guiding force in its success.

Paul is the featured reader at Coffee with the Poets on Wednesday, September 14 at 10:30 a.m. We meet and enjoy Liz’s coffee and delicious pastries at Café Touche, 82 Main Street in Hayesville, NC.

After Paul’s reading, we will open the floor to anyone who has brought an original poem or short prose piece. If you can’t be there early, you might want to bring a folding chair. Coffee with the Poets is bigger and better than ever in its fifth year. We appreciate all the poets and writers who have supported this event since 2007.

 In October, Carole Thompson will be the featured reader.

We are sponsored by NCWN-West (Netwest) a chapter of North Carolina Writers’ Network. http://ncwriters.org/

Contact me, Glenda Beall, for more information.

SPIRITUAL WRITING COURSE BY PAUL DONOVAN

Paul Donovan of Murphy, NC author of a poetry book Ramblings of an Idiot, and author of other poems and stories published in anthologies and journals, is also a Reiki Master and teaches energy healing. He will hold a class at Glenda Beall's studio, Writers Circle, in Hayesville, NC on Saturday, September 25, 10 AM - 1:00 PM. on Spiritual Writing. This is the first session of his two part series and is for those who have not taken the class before.

On Saturday, October 2, he will teach the second part of the course at Writers Circle. To register for this class or to receive more information, contact Glenda Beall, glendabeall@msn.com or Paul Donovan, tarmachan_de@hughes.com.

Class fee is $30.

Cherokee County Poetry and Essay Contest

Dalton Mallonee, Cliff Owl, and Amanda Gaddis - Essay contest winners.
Kelly Noel Waldorf and Hannah Larson. Poetry contest winners.

Serving as judge of essays for the Cherokee County Poetry and Essay Contest held each year for high school students in Cherokee County, North Carolina was and is always an honor. I read and re-read the work of these students and found it difficult to choose only three winners.

Cliff Owl III, in the white shirt in the photo, was my choice for first place. His personal essay, Walking the Line of the Reservation, expresses deep insight into his feelings of guilt, stygma, and his reconciliation of these feelings as he graduates from Murphy High School. With a small enrollment of people from his father's Cherokee Indian heritage Cliff often felt he should be at Cherokee High School on the Qualla Boundary, home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee where his relatives live and his family once lived. I was not surprised when Cliff said he was going to college at Stamford University.His writing showed a surprising maturity for such a young man.

Second and third place essay winners responded to an assignment in class and both wrote entirely different views on the subject of a Learning Experience.

First place Poetry winner was Hannah Larsen. This was her second time to win this contest in her four years of high school

Judging the Poetry contest was Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, our Netwest Rep in South Carolina.

Our congratulations to all the winners. This contest is sponsored each year by the local community, and the Cherokee Scout Newspaper.

Paul Donovan, a long time supporter of writers in his community, organizes the contest which awards monetary prizes. Netwest donates an award each year.

Titles of winning essays are:
First Place :Walking the Line of the Reservation
Second Place :A Powerful Learning Experience
Third Place :A Learning Experience

Chaos

Chaos

prevails now,

flickering candles

continue to burn,

moving with the air

of uncertainty.

Be still
Be silent,
Go within,

to find your peace.





Donovan

Writers and Poets Reading Stories and Poems

JC Walkup from Canton, NC and Paul Donovan from Murphy, read to an enthusiastic audience at John C. Campbell Folk School Thursday evening. Dr. Gene Hirsch and students in his current poetry class were present for the reading, as well as Nancy Simpson, writer-in-residence at JCCFS. Paul Donovan told the group, representing many different states in the United States, that they were in the presence of some very important people to writers in western NC. Dr. Hirsch founded the writing program at the folk school, and Nancy Simpson brings in the wonderful faculty each year. Nancy served as Program Coordinator for Netwest for 13 years and continues to mentor and teach poetry.

JC read a gory horror story which kept the listeners on the edge of their seats. Her husband Bob says JC finds ideas for her stories wherever they travel. Just one little incident can grow into an interesting mystery.

Paul Donovan gave one of his very best readings ever. With his tongue-in-cheek humor his poetry often ends with a twist, but a little of the dark slips into his work occasionally.

Reading in May, on the third Thursday, will be Shirley Uphouse, non-fiction writer and Brenda Kay Ledford, award winning poet. Time is 7:00 p.m. at John C. Campbell Keith House living room.

JC Walkup and Paul Donovan will read at John C. Campbell Folk School on Thursday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the Keith House.

JC Walkup, from Haywood County, NC says that "creative writing has been her life long avocation." Her short stories have been published in anthologies. She has written two novels and a stage play since her retirement three years ago. She serves in volunteer capacities in the community related to literacy, the libraries and writers' organizations. She is reading at John C. Campbell Folk School for the first time.

Paul Donovan, poet, from Murphy, NC, initiated an annual poetry and essay contest for students in Cherokee County, N.C. Paul has published an autobiographical book of poetry, Ramblings of an Idiot, and is published in journals and anthologies including Lights in the Mountains. He has spent the last three years, since becoming aware of the healing art of Reiki, writing poetry and essays from a more spiritual prospective. Paul is the host of Fireside Friday, a monthly reading sponsored by the Curiosity Book store at the Shoppes of Murphy.

Audiences at the Folk School are often made up of students, blacksmiths, quilters, jewelry makers, banjo players, dulcimer players and writers, who have come from all over the United States and even some foreign countries. They are always warm and open to the work of our writers.

The public and Netwest writers are urged to come, bring your friends and enjoy Paul and JC read their work. You will be glad you did.