Utah State Poetry Society Gifts Book to Bee City Poets, Announces Contest

 

    Bee City Poets  at its First Thursday" gathering in Hayesville yesterday received a "Book Of The Year" gifted from the Utah State Poetry Society of which NCWN-West member Raven Chiong is a member.

    The Utah State Poetry Society also generously extended an invitation for NCWN-West members to enter in its upcoming 2024 annual poetry contest.  There are 38 categories (18 categories for non-members of UTSPS) and cash prizes!  "Personally, I have submitted poems to the contest the last 5 years, won a few dollars, and have sponsored Category #12," Raven said. "The process is a fun learning experience and can be extra motivation to pollinate the world with our words."

    The submission window is December 1, 2023-February 1, 2024.  

    Here is a convenient link for direct access to all the details: (As you may already know, it's important to follow the guidelines to avoid disqualification of your entries)

UTAH-STATE-POETRY-SOCIETY-2024-CONTEST.pdf (utahpoets.com)

    If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Raven, who added: "I hope we surprise and overwhelm the good folks in Utah with our participation from the Great North State!"

Raven Chiong to be Featured Reader at Mountain Wordsmiths Sept. 28

Raven and Dulce

     Gifted (and beloved) poet and playwright Raven Chiong will be the featured reader for this month’s gathering of Mountain Wordsmiths on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

     Chiong is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Utah State Poetry Society, Florida State Poetry Association, and National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her poetry and prose have been widely published from coast to coast. Chiong will share her lifelong writing process and read selections from her recently published book, "Ode to the Still Small Voice-A Memoir of Listening."

     Her writing career began at five years of age when she became a loyal pen pal to her absent mother. She earned her Master of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Florida. She is a lifelong student, life coach, and educator. Career highlights include qualifying for the First Ever 1984 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials and paying it forward with her 19-year cross country coaching career at DePauw University, Florida Atlantic University, Pine Crest Prep School, and Mills College. After a long competitive running and coaching career, she now runs her pen across the pages of this life.

     She has been working with Best Friends Animal Society since 2008. Above all, she is the proud and devoted mama of four rescue dogs who found her wandering in the high desert of Southern Utah. They are her ongoing source of inspiration, a-muse-ment, and greatest teachers.

     Email Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

We have a new Clay County Rep for NCWN-West

I am very happy to introduce our members to Raven Chiong who is the new Clay County Representative for NCWN-West. She is also listed as a regional rep on the Network website. 

RAVEN CHIONG, CLAY COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE FOR NCWN-WEST, AND ONE OF HER DEARLY LOVED RESCUES

We are fortunate to have Raven take on this responsibility which I accepted many years ago along with Janice Moore. Raven was a student of mine in my Zoom classes during the past two years and I found her to be an excellent writer, but also a caring and encouraging person. She has been promoting writing events, helping write a play, posting flyers, and devoting much of her time to NCWN-West. I welcome Raven and hope you all will take the time to do so as well.

Raven’s writing career began at five years of age when she became a loyal pen pal to her absent mother. She earned her Master of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Florida. Raven is a lifelong student, life coach, and educator.

Career highlights include qualifying for the First Ever 1984 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials and paying it forward with her 19-year cross country coaching career at DePauw University (IN), Florida Atlantic University, Pine Crest Prep School (FL), and Mills College (CA) where she was also coordinator and grant writer for the N.C.A.A. program, C.H.A.M.P.S.—Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success. 

She served as United States Ambassador at the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece, and took 10 ten-year-old students to Australia to run, relay style, in the Brisbane Half-Marathon. After a long competitive running and coaching career, Raven now runs her pen across the pages of this life.

In Utah, Raven won the Jacob Hamblin essay contest for her research on “Lovina Manhard Brown—Kane County Pioneer.” She created a souvenir chronicle for the centennial celebration of the Kanab City Library in 2015. Additionally, Raven founded the Willow Wind Poets, a local Kanab chapter of the Utah State Poetry Society in 2017. She was an annual presenter at the Kanab Writers Conference on “Writing as a Spiritual Practice” and led Plein Air writing and hiking groups in the high desert. In 2019, she was awarded a fellowship to attend the National Federation of State Poetry Society’s (NFSPS) national conference in Santa Fe, NM.

Since returning to her maternal ancestral homeland of Western North Carolina in 2020, Raven’s poems have garnered silver medals at the Cherokee/Clay County Senior Games in 2021 and 2022. She collaborated with author and poet Carroll S. Taylor on a one-act play entitled “Beneath the Sky and Waters” at a Scribes on Stage event at the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Spring 2022.

Raven is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Utah State Poetry Society, Florida State Poetry Association, and National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Additionally, she is a member of the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association (CCCRA), Clay County Historical and Arts Council (CCHAC), Friend of the Moss Memorial Library, and a supporter of Historic Hayesville, Inc, Celebration of Pets Foundation, and One Dozen Who Care, Inc. 

To date, Raven’s poetry has been published in the Red Rock Review, Kanab Arts Magazine, Utah Life Magazine, Best Friends Animal Society blog and Fall Forever Friends Newsletter as well as The Art of Isolation, A Thousand Writing Paths, and Old Mountain Press anthologies. Her forthcoming collection of poems entitled “Ode to the Still Small Voice-A Memoir of Listening” will be published by Covenant Books and available in early 2023.

Raven has been working with Best Friends Animal Society since 2008. Above all, she is the proud and devoted mama of four rescue dogs Dulce, Buddy, Sage, and Bini who adopted her in Southern Utah. They are her ongoing source of inspiration, a-muse-ment, and greatest teachers.

She has an inspiring bio that proves to me she diligently works for the things that grabs her interest. We are fortunate to have Raven with us in Clay County, NC but also as a part of NCWN-West.

I hope you will leave your good wishes for Raven in the comments section of this blog. Remember, your words will not appear immediately. Come back later to see what is published.