Novelist and Poet Andrew K. Clark to be Featured Reader for Sept. 26 Mountain Wordsmiths

         Novelist and poet Andrew K. Clark will be the featured reader at Mountain Wordsmiths' gathering on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, from 10:30 a.m. until noon via Zoom. The event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

Andrew K. Clark

        Clark is a writer from Western North Carolina where his people settled before the Revolutionary War. His poetry collection, "Jesus in the Trailer," was published by Main Street Rag Press and was shortlisted for the Able Muse Book Award. His debut novel, "Where Dark Things Grow," is forthcoming from Cowboy Jamboree Press in September 2024. His work has appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, UCLA’s Out of Anonymity, Appalachian Review, Rappahannock Review, and The Wrath Bearing Tree. He received his MFA from Converse College. Connect with him at andrewkclark.com.

       "Where Dark Things Grow," is Southern Gothic horror set in 1930s Southern Appalachia. Fifteen-year-old Leo is watching the world crumble. His father is missing and his mother is slipping into madness as she cares for Leo, his sick sister Goldfish, and two useless brothers. Relatives are no help, and the church folk have turned their backs. 

        When he discovers an enchanted wulver that has stepped out of ancient folklore that will do his bidding, he decides to settle old scores. Revenge is sweet, but Leo soon learns he can’t control what he’s unleashed. It takes his spitfire best friend Lilyfax to help Leo overcome his anger and try to escape the wulver’s evil. As they search for his father, Leo, Lilyfax, and friends are pursued by dark forces and pulled into a rescue effort to find and save trafficked girls rumored to have been taken by the mysterious Blue Man.

        Featuring elements of folklore and magical realism, "Where Dark Things Grow" is a dark bildungsroman set squarely in the place and culture of the mountains.

        Mountain Wordsmiths’ gatherings take place each month on Zoom. NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We offer writing events and writing classes both online and in person. Writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because they can join our gatherings from distant locations. Attendees are welcome to bring a poem or short prose piece to read during Open Mic. Please limit the reading to 3-5 minutes.

        Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com or ncwngeorgiarep@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.

Ken Chamlee Book Launch Set for Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

    Poet Kenneth Chamlee will launch his latest book, "The Best Material for the Artist in the World," (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. over Zoom.

    "The Best Material for the Artist in the World" tracks the life and career of landscape artist Albert Bierstadt. Relaying the story primarily through his voice, these narrative, lyric, and ekphrastic poems touch the momentum of the developing west, the devastation of native tribes and great buffalo herds, and the resiliency of Bierstadt’s art in our time of environmental awareness and expansionist reappraisal.

    To get a link and join the Zoom presentation contact Ken at chamleek@gmail.com.

    Bierstadt was born in Germany and came to America with his parents at age two. Growing up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the young artist apprenticed in Europe, but the Rocky Mountains and Yosemite Valley became the subjects driving his expansive, often romanticized sense of nature. Though best known for large-scale paintings with atmospheric trees and ethereal lighting, Bierstadt was also a master of intimate detail and animal portraiture. 

     ​​Chamlee’s biography-in-poems follows the arc of Bierstadt’s life and career, from youth to extraordinary success to eventual decline. Primarily in the artist’s voice, the poems also speak through other important characters, renderings of specific paintings, and the poet’s own sense of engagement. With realistic description and emotional embrace, this fine collection explores Bierstadt’s determination to depict a glorious post-war West while also revealing personal and historic loss.

Order from Stephen F. Austin
State University Press
Also available at
Highland Books, Brevard, NC
City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC
Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville, NC
Main Street Books, Davidson, NC
Union Avenue Books, Knoxville , TN

Poet David Graham to be Featured at Writers’ Night Out on Zoom

Poet and editor David Graham will be the featured guest for Writers’ Night Out on Friday evening, May 13, at 7:00 PM. 

DAVID GRAHAM

This monthly event sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West is being held online because of continued COVID precautions. We hope to meet again in person in the near future. However, we are happy that not only local writers but those from other states and distant cities are joining us each month on Zoom.

Graham has seven collections of poetry, and the most recent is The Honey of Earth (Terrapin Books, 2019). He co-edited (with Tom Montag) the anthology Local News: Poetry About Small Towns, and, with Kate Sontag, the essay anthology After Confession: Poetry as Confession. He has been a faculty member several times at The Frost Place in Franconia New Hampshire, where he also served as Poet in Residence in 1996.

In 2016 he retired from teaching at Ripon College, where he also directed the Visiting Writers Series for twenty-eight years. Currently a contributing editor at the online journal Verse-Virtual, he also writes a column, “Poetic License.”

David was educated at Dartmouth College and The University of Massachusetts. He lives in Glens Falls, NY. To read more about Graham, visit his website at www.davidgrahampoet.com.

Everyone is invited to bring a poem or short prose piece to read at Open Mic. Time is limited to 3 – 4 minutes. Only two poems, please. Contact Glenda Beall at glendabeall@msn.com to be placed on the list for Open Mic. To receive the Zoom link, contact Glenda Beall also.

Catherine Carter to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

Catherine Carter

            During this ongoing time of COVID-19, NC Writers’ Network-West is still unable to hold in-person meetings, but we are maintaining an online presence with Mountain Wordsmiths, which meets the fourth Thursday morning of each month on Zoom. On Thursday, February 24, at 10:30 a.m., our guest reader will be noted poet Catherine Carter.

             Carter’s collections of poetry with LSU Press include The Memory of Gills (2006), The Swamp Monster at Home (2012), and Larvae of the Nearest Stars (2019); she has one chapbook with Jacar Press, Marks of the Witch.  Her poetry has won the North Carolina Literary Review’s James Applewhite Prize, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Award, Jacar Press’ chapbook contest; her poetry has also appeared in Orion, Poetry, Ecotone, RHINO, North American Review, Southern Humanities Review, Poetry South, Tar River Poetry, and Ploughshares, among others.

               Raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, she is now a professor of English at Western Carolina University.  On a good day, she can roll a whitewater kayak and re-queen a beehive; on less good days, she collects stings, rock-rash, and multiple contusions.

           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. Many wordsmiths are enjoying Zoom meetings because we are able to include poets and writers from other cities and states across the country.

    We welcome those who were regulars at Coffee with the Poets and Writers who 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 also welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

                                 -

This article was written by Carroll S. Taylor, Author

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Writers' Night Out is Zooming on July 10

We are delighted to have Carroll S. Taylor, award-winning poet and author of three books, as our guest for Writers' Night Out Friday, July 10 at 7:00 PM.

 We will once again hold a Zoom event. I will send out the invitation to our members on July 5 or 6.
The event will include an Open Mic session. 

Writers' Night Out, Friday April 10, Social Distancing Style on Zoom,

Writers' Night Out
Social Distancing Style

Join us online,
April 10, 7 pm
Featuring Poet, Rupert Fike
reading & craft talk
+ 
Open mic
See open mic sign-up instructions below
See Zoom meeting link below
 You do not need a Zoom account nor a Zoom app. 

In a new Writers' Night Format for 2020, Rupert will read and then present a craft talk. 

Rupert Fike, poet

 Rupert Fike, who has been a Writers' Night favorite in past years, won the 2017 Violet Reed Hass prize for his second book, Hello the House (Snake Nation Press), which was also named a "Book All Georgians Should Read."

His first collection was Lotus Buffet (Brick Road, 2011), and his stories and poems have appeared in The Southern Poetry Review, Scalawag, The Georgetown Review, A&U America's AIDS Magazine, The Buddhist Poetry Review, Natural Bridge, and others. He has a poem inscribed in a downtown Atlanta plaza, and his non-fiction, Voices from The Farm, chronicles life on a 1970s Tennessee commune. He lives in Atlanta and travels throughout the south to do readings. 


Zoom instructions: You can join the group by cell phone, notebook, laptop, or computer and use audio only or audio and video. 

It's easiest to join using this link. Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/680728955?pwd=T2duT2wzd1NjQTFjUHcveEtMSkpDdz09
When prompted, click on "Open zoom.us". 
Try to get on before 7 pm to make sure you can do it. 
It is important to use the meeting ID and the password.

Meeting ID: 680 728 955
Password: 095905
If you are interested in a practice session before Friday, contact Glenda Beall, glendabeall@msn.com

Open mic sign-up
Open mic follows the craft talk. 3 minutes for each reader of poetry or prose. To sign up, please contact Glenda Beall glendabeall@msm.com


May 8 and continuing the second Friday of every month:
We hope to continue in person at our new location--The Ridges Resort on Lake Chatuge-- but please check your email.