News from Mary Ricketson: Call for exhibitors for ARTrageous Event November 9, 2018, at The Learning Center, Murphy, NC, where Former NC Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson will perform; plus Stephenson will perform Sunday, 10/7/2018 at Malaprops, Ashville.

News from Mary Ricketson, Cherokee County Rep for NCWN-West

Would the NCWN-West community like to set up a book table of local writers for Friday, November 9th at ARTrageous, The Learning Center in Murphy's event, for exposure for NCWN-West to the community, possible sales, and talking to young writers? Contact Mary at: maryricketson311@hotmail.com. ARTrageous (see poster below) has a call for exhibitors, see: Calling all artists, at: http://www.naturallygrownkids.org/artrageous

Also, Shelby Stephenson , former NC Poet Laureate will be reading at Malaprops, Asheville, NC, at 3:00 PM, on Sunday, October 7, 2018. Stephenson will also be performing his poetry and songs on Friday, November 9, 2018, at 6:00 PM, at the ARTrageous event, at The Learning Center, 945 Conahetta St, Murphy, NC 28906.

Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of NC and Mary Ricketson to read at the Curiosity Shop Books and Gifts, Murphy, NC, Friday, May 4, 2018

Curiosity Shop Books and Gifts of Murphy, NC and North Carolina Writers' Network West will host a poetry reading with special guest Shelby Stephenson, the North Carolina Poet Laureate, along with Mary Ricketson, local poet and mental health counselor. The readings will be followed by an open mic with local poets, on Friday May 4, 3:30-4:30 pm in the bookstore, 46 Valley River Ave, Murphy NC 28906. 

Both of the featured poets are often inspired by nature and give lively literary presentations.  Poets are invited and encouraged to participate and share their poems aloud with the NC poet laureate.

Stephenson’s work is widely published and often influenced by heritage, his early life on a hog farm in costal NC, and his exquisite observations of ordinary life.  The famed Fred Chappell, former NC Poet Laureate, compares Stephenson to Walt Whitman, saying “a poet like Stephenson will hear words as poetry, every syllable salted with the soil, every sentence a redolent wake of the plowshare.”

Ricketson currently merges her poetry with the healing and empowerment related to her profession as a counselor.

Shelby Stephenson of Benson NC, is Professor Emeritus, UNC-Pembroke, serving as editor of Pembroke Magazine from 1979 until his retirement in 2010.  He received the Distinguished Alumnus Achievement Award, 2015, Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison.  His recent books are Paul’s Hill:  Homage to Whitman (Sir Walter Press); Our World (Press 53); Elegies for Small Game (Press 53), winner of Roanoke-Chowan Award; Fiddledeedee (reissue, Press 53); Family Matters:  Homage to July, the Slave Girl (Bellday Books), the Bellday Prize; Maytle’s World (play). 

Mary Ricketson, local mental health counselor and blueberry farmer, has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, and her books, I Hear the River Call My Name, and Hanging Dog Creek.  She placed first in 2011 Joyce Kilmer national poetry contest.  She writes a monthly column, Woman to Woman, for The Cherokee Scout and has recently released a new collection of poetry, Shade and Shelter, published by Kelsay Books.

Poetry & Prose reading sponsored by Ridgeline Literary Alliance & North Carolina Poetry Society, featuring poet Shelby Stephenson, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC., Sat., May 7th, at 2:00 PM

North Carolina’s Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson returns to the western mountains of NC to read his award-winning poems. Local writers David Brown, multiple-award-winning publisher of the Cherokee Scout and associated newspapers; and Bob Grove, founder and publisher of Monitoring Times Magazine and prose critique facilitator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network, will follow with their original works.

At the conclusion of the scheduled readings, an open mic session will be available for RLA members and anyone in attendance who wishes to read.

This exciting literary event is scheduled for May 7, 2016, at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street in Hayesville, NC, and will run from 2:00 p.m. through approximately 4:00 p.m. There is no cost and all ages are welcome. Complimentary snacks will be provided. Contact Moss Memorial Library for directions: 828-389-8401.

For complete details of this event, download the PDF flyer at https://goo.gl/Obq3fH

Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of NC, to read, Sat., Aug. 8th, with poets Robert S. King and Rosemary Royston at the Murphy, NC, Public Library

Ridgeline Literary Alliance, in cooperation with the NC Poetry Society, invites the public to hear Shelby Stephanson, Poet Laureate of NC, on Saturday, August 8th, at 2:00 PM at the Murphy Public Library, 9 Blumenthal St., Murphy, NC.  Joining Shelby Stephenson in this free reading will be poets Robert S. King and Rosemary Royston.

Shelby Stephenson, the current Poet Laureate of North Carolina, was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame last year. Previously he won the 2001 North Carolina Award in Literature, and his book, Family Matters: Homage to July, the Slave Girl, won the 2008 Bellday Poetry Prize and the 2009 Oscar Arnold Young Award. He taught at UNC Pembroke, and edited an international literary journal for over thirty years. His ten chapbooks have won the 2001 North Carolina Award in Literature, the 2008 Bellday Poetry Prize, the 2009 Oscar Arnold Young Award, as well as the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Memorial Award, North Carolina Network Chapbook Prize, the Bright Hill Chapbook Award, and the Brockman-Campbell Poetry Prize.

Mr. Stephenson will be joined by two other distinguished poets, Robert S. King, and Rosemary Royston.

Robert S. King is the former president of the Georgia Poetry Society, editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Review, who has eight collections of his poetry published will also be reading. King has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net award, and is the founder of Ridgeline Literary Alliance. His poems have been published in hundreds of magazines. His latest books are Diary of the Last Person on Earth, 2014, and Developing a Photograph of God, also 2014.

Rosemary Royston, teaches English at Young Harris College where she is also Vice President for Planning and Assessment, is on the Board of Directors for the Byron Herbert Reece Society. She holds an MFA from Spalding University. Her poetry has been published in journals such as Appalachian Heritage, Southern Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Coal Hill Review, Flycatcher, Town Creek Review, and The Kentucky Review and on her blog The Luxury of Trees. Royston's book, Splitting the Soil, was published last year.

Both King and Royston have led writing workshops locally, and Royston served as 2015 Senior Games/SilverArts judge in the Literary Arts competitions.

Please bring your own poems to read at open mic, time depending, and celebrate poetry in Western North Carolina.