Dr. Steven Harvey, author of The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, talks about writing the story of his mother's suicide.

Steven Harvey is the author of three books of personal essays. A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove. He has also edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood. His memoir The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, which has him exploring his mother's suicide when he was eleven, was recently published by Ovenbird Books. I appreciate him giving his time to answer a few questions for this interview. 

GCB: Steve, I’ve known you for more than twenty years and always admired your writing and your teaching. You were a poet and you are an essayist. How was writing a memoir different from writing your other books?

STEVE: All of my writing has a personal component, but the memoir required a different kind of digging. Armed with only a few vivid memories of my childhood, I was asking myself to reconstruct a past. I did have more than four hundred letters that covered all but the last year of the book, but they served primarily as a mnemonic evoking images, thoughts, memories, and events that I had not thought about in years.

Read more:  here

Polly Davis to present her memoir at City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC, Sat., Jan 9th, 2015 at 3:00 PM

Polly Davis will present Stumbling Toward Enlightenment on Saturday, January 9th at 3 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore. Married to a Special Forces soldier during the height of the Vietnam War, Polly Davis was a soldier’s wife with a difference: she often led, always followed, and sometimes fought alongside her Green Beret. Whether leaping out of airplanes, SCUBA diving off the coast of Massachusetts, hauling her family and their dogs over two continents, or battling a life-threatening disease, Davis’ life story is superbly rich with courage, compassion, and a sly humor that overcomes all obstacles. Failure is not an option with this warm and enticing tale.


Polly’s is a companion book to her husband’s memoir, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On: A March from Private to Colonel. Come join Polly and Tom for a He Said She Said reading. While writing their memoirs, they would compare notes and wonder if they were at the same place at the same time. The contrasting views of the same events are hilarious! To reserve copies of these memoirs please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499

Steven Harvey, Beloved Teacher & Writer at Writers' Night, Blairsville, GA

Don't Miss this Special Guest

Friday, October 9

Dr. Steven Harvey

Writers’ Night Out features retired Young Harris College professor, Steven Harvey, PhD, on Friday night, October 9. An open microphone will follow for those who’d like to read their own poetry or prose. The event takes place at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville and is free and open to the public. Food and drinks are available for purchase. The program begins at 7 p.m., but attendees should arrive by 6 p.m. if they plan to eat.

Harvey’s most recent book is The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about coming to terms with the suicide of his mother. It was published by Ovenbird Books as part of the “Judith Kitchen Select” series.  A section of the memoir appeared in The Best American Essays 2013.  He is also the author of three books of personal essays, A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove and edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood.  Harvey is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at Young Harris College, a member of the nonfiction faculty in the Ashland University MFA program in creative writing, a senior editor for River Teeth magazine, and the creator of The Humble Essayist, a website designed to promote literary nonfiction.  He lives in the north Georgia mountains.  You can learn more about Steven and his work at his web site:  www.steven-harvey-author.com .

Writers’ Night Out is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and takes place on the second Friday of the month, April through November. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. In its fifth year, the event draws audience members from four counties. The Union County Community Center is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course, 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Join the Beebes for Writers’ Night Out, July 10

Husband and wife writers, Jo Carolyn and John Beebe, will entertain the audience with their fiction, poetry, and memoir.

       An open microphone follows their reading for those who’d like to share their own writing. Writers’ Night Out, takes place at the Union CountyCommunity Center in Blairsville, GA on Friday evening, July 10. The event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks are available for purchase, but attendees should arrive by 6 pm to allow time to be served before the program starts at 7 pm.

John and Jo Carolyn Beebe have lived in Towns County, GA for twenty years. They recently celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, and one great-grandson.

Jo Carolyn was born at the tip of the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Mississippi where oral family history was handed down to her by her grandparents and great-grandfather -- history rich in tales of the early settlers, Civil War encounters, and the hard life of the rural south. While studying creative writing at Miami University, she discovered those family legends provided material for short stories and poetry. Her publication credits include MainStreet Rag, Lonzie’s Fried Chicken, Lights in the Mountains, Heroes of Hackland, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Clothes Lines, Women’s Spaces Women’sPlaces, View from the Top, and Abingdon Press.

John Beebe comes by his personal essays naturally. His mother was a poet and journalist for local newspapers, and his grandfather also was a writer. John is a retired civil engineer having worked in the paper industry in Wisconsin, Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio. He has enjoyed choral music most of his life and sang with the Atlanta Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony for a total of thirteen years. In recent years he sang with the Mountain Community Chorus. John was born in South Bend, IN, grew up in Zion, IL, and graduated from the University of Illinois

Writers’ Night Out, sponsored by the North CarolinaWriters’ Network-West, takes place on the second Friday of the month, April through November. Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The Union County Community Center is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course, 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Order Tom Davis' Memoir Now and Get Free Shipping

In his memoir, Tom Davis relates his experiences during the thirty-one years he spent in the US Army, rising through the ranks from private to full colonel. Twenty of those years he served with US Army Special Forces (Green Berets). 

This book chronicles his time in three combat zones: Vietnam, Bosnia, and Iraq/Turkey. Included are his experiences commanding Special Forces Operational 'A ' Detachments which specialized in Underwater Operations, High Altitude Low Opening Parachuting, Mountaineering, and Small Atomic Demolitions Munitions as well as two Special Forces Battalions and a Joint Special Operations Task Force. Each chapter covers his duties and responsibilities at the Army Installation where he served.

Sometimes funny. Sometimes sad. Always interesting. Order a printed book now at  www.oldmp.com/davismemoirs and get FREE shipping.

Thursday Night Reading at the John C. Campbell Folk School

Thursday night at the John C. Campbell Folk School we were entertained with poetry from Robert S. King and a funny, laugh out loud, piece from Bob Groves' memoir. Bob also read some of what he called "awful poetry" that was humorous as well.

Bob Grove

Robert King is one of the best poets around these parts and has published hundreds of poems in journals and anthologies. He has several collections published as well.
Tonight's work was from a yet-to-be published manuscript. I'm sure we will see it in print soon.

Robert S. King

Next month, May 16, featured writers for the Folk School Reading will be Glenda Beall and Carole Thompson.

Bob Grove and his Website and Memoir

Netwest member and facilitator of the NCWN West Prose Group, Bob Grove has kept his website, a secret. He says he is not good at self-promotion. Why do I hear that from so many writers?

Although Bob Grove is well-known around the world and in his own back yard in western NC, his writing has not been highly visible in the literary world of NC. 

A few years ago Bob and his lovely wife, Judy, visited Coffee with the Poets at Phillips and Lloyd Bookstore in Hayesville, NC. I don't remember if he read that day at open mic, but soon he was a regular  at the monthly meetings. 

He had begun to dabble in poetry, but his focus was prose. His stories about his life, his memoir, were enjoyed by all of us. Now Bob has completed his book, and you can find excerpts on his website. One thing you will soon find out is that Bob was a mischievous child and a prankster. He was a dare devil as well. 

His life stories are fun to read and hear him read. And boy, does he have a wealth of stories. 

When you visit www.bobgrove.org you can learn about his other interests. He often serves as an auctioneer, and I really enjoyed the pages about things that sell and don't sell, what is an antique and what is not. 

I am glad I stumbled on his website and found out he is selling his book. Visit and come back here and let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Mary Ricketson and Nadine Justice to read at JCCFS Thursday night

JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

              At 7:00 p.m. Thursday, February 21, 2013,  John C. Campbell Folk School  and  NC Writers Network West sponsor the monthly reading in the Keith House by members of NCWN. The reading is free of charge and open to the public.  Poets Mary Ricketson and writer, Nadine Justice will be the featured readers.  

Mary Ricketson’s poetry has been published in her chapbook, I Hear the River Call My Name, Lights in the Mountains, Freeing Jonah IV, Freeing Johah V, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press,Your Daily Poem, Journal of Kentucky Studies, various magazines and in Disorgananza, a private collection distributed among family and friends.  She won the gold medal for poetry in the 2011 Cherokee County Senior Games/Silver Arts.  She won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest national poetry contest.

Mary writes a monthly column, Woman to Woman, for The Cherokee Scout.  She is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, a mental health counselor, and a farmer.

Mary says she writes to satisfy a hunger, to taste life all the way down to the last drop.  She gains perspective from family and friends, her Appalachian home, and her life’s work as a counselor.

Writing poetry places her in kinship with her own life.

Mary Ricketson is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in Murphy, North Carolina.  She brings more than thirty years experience to her work, with twenty-five years in private practice.  She is a founding board member of  REACH.  She has a special interest in women’s issues, victims of abuse, and family and couple relationships.  She offers innovative ways to effect change in difficult life patterns, including Journey to Intuition and Neurofeedback.  She is listed in Who’s Who in American Women.

Nadine Justice

Nadine Justice divides her time between a mountain-top cottage in north Georgia and her home in Atlanta. For the past few years she has worked on a memoir which was published last year. Excerpts have been published in an anthology by the Georgia Mountain Writers Club. She also enjoys a successful career as an interior designer. Her design work has been featured twice in Better Homes and Gardens and in Atlanta Custom Home magazines.

Nadine grew up in West Virginia and is the daughter of a coal miner. She is married to a retired federal agent, and enjoys spending time with her four “perfect” grandchildren.

Nadine is a new member of the North Carolina Writers' Network. She will share portions of her book, I'm a coal Miner's Daughter, But I Cain't Sang, at the reading on Thursday night. 

Writers' Workshop at Wildacres Retreat

Some of the best instructors will be on faculty for this workshop. Google Darnell Arnoult and Abigal DeWitt and Georgann Eubanks. You will see why I am delighted to be going to this weeklong workshop at my favorite place in the mountains, Wildacres Retreat. 

POPULAR FALL WRITERS’ RETREATS NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION 

Writers of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and music can now register for an annual workshop known for helping seasoned and beginning writers in one of North Carolina’s most glorious mountain settings.

Applications are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for this year’s Table Rock Writers Workshop, to be held Sept. 17 -21 at Wildacres Retreat, near Little Switzerland on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

From the large patio between lodges, looking at the ever-changing scenery. Cool and quiet here at Wildacres

SOLATIDO, a southern singer/songwriters’ workshop that runs concurrently is also open for registration.

Table Rock, originally known as the Duke University Writers’ Workshop, was reorganized in 2010 and continues with the same leadership and philosophy of support for writers of all genres and levels of experience.

Georgann Eubanks, who has directed the popular literary workshops for more than 20 years, also developed Solatido for songwriters. She is the author of the guidebook series, Literary Trails of North Carolina, a project of the NC Arts Council. The third volume, Literary Trails of Eastern North Carolina, comes out next spring from UNC Press. The books are all about the state’s many accomplished writers.

“Writing is a solitary occupation,” says Eubanks. “It helps once in a while to gather in the company of other writers and receive feedback and encouragement. The Table Rock and Solatido workshops avoid competition and focus on creativity and craft.” 

Eubanks says some registrants are returnees, but newcomers always infuse the weeklong sessions with fresh energy and ideas.

The instructors at Table Rock this year are North Carolina writers Abigail DeWitt, Darnell Arnoult, Anna Jean Mayhew and Scott Huler.  Participants can also choose to take advantage of a first-time Reader-in Residence, Dawn Shamp. Writers can submit parts of a manuscript in progress and Shamp will provide a detailed critique including structural and technical advice. 

Music producer and composer Richard Putnam leads this year’s Solatido workshop. The keyboardist and arranger is comfortable with all musical styles and has been a session player in the Southeast for 30 years.

For more information: http://tablerockwriters.com 

 http://solatido-workshop.net

Contact Cindy Campbell, 919.923.8857, cincam02@gmail.com

WRITING MEMOIR, REVISING, REWRITING

This holiday week has been full of fun and work. Seeing old friends, talking with family, meeting new friends, and eating hot dogs and hamburgers.

The work came when a dear student of mine brought over dinner and her memoir manuscript she has been working on for three years.  She admitted she was shocked when she discovered the time and effort needed after all the words were on paper.
"I don't think I would have started this if I had known how much work it takes to get it published,” she said. But she has been bitten by the writing bug and is already planning future writing.

We spent hours Friday proofing and revising parts of just three chapters. She admits she did not really “hear” me when I said in class that revision is a big part of writing.
She had no idea that parts of her manuscript would have to be cut, rearranged or rewritten. She did hear me when I said she should hire a professional editor if she wanted to self-publish and her book to be the best it could be. She has an excellent editor, I think. The hardest part of working with an editor is accepting revisions that smooth out the writing, but leave out parts the writer feels were essential to her story. Maybe it would be helpful to remember that major authors of Best Selling Books are happy to have good editors who can improve on the way their words are written on the page.

I tell my students their memoir should inform, enlighten and entertain their readers. We want our readers to learn about us, about our situation or experience. We also want them to be enlightened – perhaps see something in a different light -- and I believe this author’s book will do that. Her editor likes the book and sees its worth and wants to keep the author’s voice intact. The book is entertaining. Humor, pathos, and outrage, flow throughout the pages, mixed in with the innocence lost as she meets with challenges she never expected to encounter.

A universal theme in this book is overcoming adversity and also the realization that no matter how things change they always seem to stay the same.

What started as a simple batch of stories about this writer’s life, has now become a full-blown 60,000-word manuscript. All this from someone who had never thought of writing a book until she began taking writing classes and devoting herself to writing.

If one wants to write, he/she should begin taking classes and keeping a journal. Write in that journal as often as possible. If not in a journal, start a morning practice of writing a few pages every day. Discipline is needed to begin a habit. Once the habit is begun it will be second nature to write whenever and wherever possible.

Click here to see a schedule of writing classes where you might want to begin.

Can You Really Teach Someone to Write?

Your Life - Your Stories - Folk School class in 2003


I remember the first day of the first class I taught at John C. Campbell Folk School. Nancy Simpson, Resident Writer at JCCFS, had called and asked me to substitute for an instructor who was unable to come to teach a weekend class.

I was delighted to have the opportunity. I had been teaching at an adult education program at a church in North Georgia and found I enjoyed working with senior adults who were not necessarily writers, but wanted to write about their lives to leave a legacy for their families.

This became one of the most fullfilling experiences of my life. All were beginners to the world of writing classes and writing workshops. With a little encouragement each student poured out stories about their lives, stories I knew their families would cherish for generations. I still hear from students in that class.
My first class at the Folk School met in the wet room, a room set up with long tables, a room far too big for our small class, but it didn't matter. It served our purpose.
I arrived early, around 3:30 Friday afternoon. I approached the door and turned the key in the lock. For a minute I stood there, remembering when I was fresh out of college, entering my first classroom for children, scared but eager to make a positive difference in the lives of fourth graders. That was years ago and only a few of those children have I heard from or seen since they left Sylvester Road Elementary. I hope the year they spent with me helped them on their life's journey.

Now, more than thirty years later, I had come full circle. Once again I came as a teacher, not of children, but to do what I could to make a positive difference in the lives of adults.

Our time together was short; Friday evening and Saturday, but it was fruitful. A gentleman in the class said to me as he left on Sunday. "I'm so glad I came. I have carried around this envelope filled with stuff about my father for years, and now I know what I will do with it. Thank you."

Through the years it has been rewarding to hear from my students who have published memoirs, either for their family or for the public. I have read their work on blogs, in magazines and in their books.
I am always delighted to see their accomplishments.
I don't take credit for their success, but I am happy to have been a small part of it.
I look forward to teaching a week-long class at John Campbell Folk School in August. Once again I'll meet interesting people with unique lives, and I will do all I can to help these writers get those life stories on paper for those whom they love. Maybe you will be one of those writers.

Glenda C. Beall - http://www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com/

Local residents, ask for half price on tuition.
Your Life—Your Stories (contact http://www.folkschool.org/ to register online)
Writing
August 21-26, 2011 (Sunday-Friday Session)
Instructor: Glenda Beall
Tuition: $488.00
Use your life experiences, favorite photos, or keepsakes to help you develop stories and personal essays. Your stories are unique. Write to publish or to save for your children and grandchildren. Share your work and get feedback that will help polish each piece you write. This class is for beginning and intermediate writers.

Your Life - Your Stories

Your Life—Your Stories Instructor: Glenda BeallUse your life experiences, favorite photos or keepsakes to help you develop stories and personal essays.Your stories are unique. Write to publish or to save for your children and grandchildren. Share your work and get feedback that will help polish each piece you write. This class is for beginning and intermediate writers.May 17-23, 2009