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.

Mary Ricketson reads at Mountain Wordsmiths

 January 2022 begins a new year for Mountain Wordsmiths, a writers’ gathering sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. 

We are not holding face-to-face meetings for our writers’ groups because of COVID, but we are continuing our online presence with Mountain Wordsmiths, which will meet on the fourth Thursday of each month on Zoom. On Thursday morning, January 27, at 10:30 a.m., our featured speaker will be well-known local poet Mary Ricketson.

Ricketson, who is from Murphy, North Carolina, has been writing poetry for over twenty-five years. Her poems have 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, and Disorgananza (private collection 2000). She has also published a chapbook, I Hear the River Call my Name, as well as five full-length poetry collections: Hanging Dog Creek (2014), Shade and Shelter (2018), Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian (2019), Keeping in Place ( 2021), and Lira, Poems of a Woodland Woman (2021). She 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.

Ricketson writes a monthly column, “Woman to Woman,” for Murphy’s weekly newspaper, The Cherokee Scout. She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor, in private practice in Murphy, NC, and an organic blueberry farmer. More information about her may be found at www.maryricketson.com.

NC Writers’ Network-West is continuing to stay in touch and use technology to share our writing. We will offer writing events and writing classes online until we can safely meet face-to-face again.

We welcome those who were regulars at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a popular meeting, which met at Moss Memorial Library. Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Also, those who wish to participate in Open Mic may sign up upon entering the meeting. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

Carroll S. Taylor to be Featured Reader at Mountain Wordsmiths

Mountain Wordsmiths’ host, Carroll S. Taylor, will be the featured reader for the group on Thursday morning, July 22, at 10:30 a.m.

This event, sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is being held via Zoom because of COVID concerns. We hope to meet again in person in the Fall of 2021; however, we are happy that not only local writers are attending our meetings but writers outside our state are also joining us.

Carroll S. Taylor

Carroll Taylor grew up on a dirt road in rural West Central Georgia. A graduate of Tift College (Mercer University), she holds graduate degrees in French, English, and Educational Leadership. She retired after teaching for over forty years. 

She is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side. Her books emphasize generational storytelling and her love for reptiles and amphibians. Her children’s book, Feannag the Crow, introduces young readers to the joy of making new friends. Her poem, “Final Wishes,” is included in a newly released anthology, Poems to Lift You Up and Make You Smile. Her poetry has also appeared in The Reach of Song published by the Georgia Poetry Society and in the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International's online gallery.

She and her husband live in Hiawassee, Georgia, and she’s always finding adventures, whether it’s standing on Prime Meridian, studying in Oxford, watching alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp, or hoping to be photobombed by Nessie while sailing on Loch Ness.

Taylor is a member of  North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and the Georgia Poetry Society. Readers may find her journal blog at chinaberrysummer.com and follow her at Facebook/chinaberrysummer.

Mountain Wordsmiths meets on the fourth Thursday of each month. We welcome those who were regulars at Coffee with the Poets and Writers which met at Moss Memorial Library prior to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Anyone who wishes to participate in Open Mic may sign up upon entering the meeting, and we welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

Join us on Zoom for this popular writing event.

 

Scott Owens, Featured on Writers' Night Out - Friday, October 9, 7:00 PM.  

Award-winning poet, editor, reviewer columnist, community organizer, and instructor of English, literature, and creative writing with 15 published books, more than 1400 published poems and 500 published essays, articles, and reviews.

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We will send the Zoom invitation to all on the membership list. Contact us if you want to read at open mic.