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.

Congratulations to Maren O. Mitchell

Maren O. Mitchell has poems published in 3 online journals:


The Orchards Poetry Journal – “My Friend Janice Said She Wouldn’t Write a Poem the Prison Across the Meadows Within View of Her House, but Suggested I Could” and “Most visible,”


Still: The Journal, Summer issue – “V,” “Vanishing Act” and “Tree Talk”

The Lake (UK), July issue – “All the way home”


Maren O. Mitchell’s poems appear in San Pedro River Review, The MacGuffin, The Cortland Review, Hotel Amerika, Poetry East, The Comstock Review, Tar River Poetry, The Pedestal Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, Slant, Still: The Journal, Chiron Review, The South Carolina Review, Southern Humanities Review, Appalachian Journal and elsewhere. Two poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives with her husband in the mountains of Georgia.