Chinquapin's Ice Cream Bar to host Benson and Taylor Book Signing, Dec. 7

     Local writers Sandy Benson and Carroll S. Taylor will hold a book-signing event on Saturday, December 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tiger’s Store and Chinquapin’s Ice Cream and Soda Bar in Hayesville. 

Sandy Benson

     Benson is a retired forester with a solid background in journalism. From the mid-1970s through 2018, she worked forestry jobs in Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska while moonlighting as a reporter, editor, publisher, and freelance non-fiction writer. She has received local and regional writing awards. Her new book, Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II, contains her curated collection of her father’s letters home from World War II.

     “The collection offers an inside look at military life during wartime through the eyes of a young pilot,” Benson says. “It delves into the nitty gritty of army life, from stateside training camps to British military bases to tent cities in France. Seasoned with the musical hits and popular films of the day and contrasted against a backdrop of family back home during times of sacrifice, rationing, and worry, it will draw readers in and immerse them in history.”

     Benson lives near Warne, NC.

Carroll Taylor

     Taylor is an author, poet, and playwright. With her latest book, she moves from writing young adult novels and children’s books to another genre, Facing Toward the East, her first collection of poems.

     “I’ve been working on many of the poems in my collection for years. I decided it was time to set them free.” In the title poem, she writes, “Ancient people knew and understood, as should we: The East is the direction of eternal hope and grace. Every morning is a rebirth.”

     Taylor’s poems have been published online and in anthologies. As a playwright, she collaborated with the late Raven Chiong to co-write Beneath the Sky and Waters (2022). She also wrote An Appointment with the Year Monger (2024). Both plays were performed at the Peacock Performing Arts Center. 

     A retired educator, she taught for over forty years, from kindergarten to university students. She lives in Hiawassee, Georgia.

Hayesville Library to Host Local Writers Nov. 12 for Reading and Book Signing

You are invited:

 

Betty Read is Featured Speaker at "Author Talk" Nov. 2

Betty Reed

    Betty Jamerson Reed of Brevard, NC, educator and author, will be the guest speaker at the annual “Author Talk” on Saturday, Nov. 2. The event will be held at 2 p.m. at the Mount Vernon Rosenwald School, 454 Mount Vernon Church Road in Iron Station. Attendance is free, and refreshments will be served.

   Reed is the author of three nonfiction books. “The Brevard Rosenwald School” (2004, McFarland) relates the history of a school in Transylvania County that received funds for the renovation of an existing black school in the 1920s.

    “School Segregation in Western North Carolina, A History, 1860s-1970s” (2011, McFarland) surveys the black schools in that region, their faculties and staff, students, curriculum, and the problems facing small, segregated schools. 

    In 2019, WestBow press published “Soldiers in Petticoats” which relates the efforts of Martha Berry, Sophia Sawyer, and Emily Prudden to educate Native American, black, and white students from the Appalachian region.

    In addition to writing nonfiction, she also writes poetry. Her poetry has been included in numerous anthologies.

Final Literary Hour for 2024 Features Benson and Plunkett

  The final Literary Hour of the 2024 season will feature local author Sandy Benson and poet David Plunkett reading from their most recent books.  The Literary Hour, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will meet in the Kieth House on the J.C. Campbell Folk School campus Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. and is free and open to everyone.

Sandy Benson

Sandy Benson, a retired forester, is a non-fiction writer whose new book, “Dear Folks: Letters Home 1943-1946 World War II,” is a collection of her father’s letters home from World War II.  In it, she chronicles the experiences of George David Geib, a pilot in the US Army Air Force during World War II.  His letters home vividly describe his training, travels, and wartime service, providing an authentic and detailed account of military life during that period.  In 2021 she published “My Mother’s Keeper: One Family’s Journey Through Dementia,” is a memoir written to help others understand and cope with the changes to a loved one brought on by the disease.

In addition to her books, she is also well-known as a local storyteller, appearing at gatherings and penning publicity releases for the Peacock Performing Arts Center in Hayesville.  In 2023 and 2024 she received awards in the Cherokee/Clay Senior Games, Literary Arts Division, and in 2024 she placed third in the statewide competition, Life Experience category.  She and her husband, Barry, live in Warne, NC, with their two bossy dachshunds.

David Plunkett

David Plunkett is a novelist and poet who will be reading from and discussing his new collection of poems, “The Blue House.”  The poems in the collection address themes of loss and hope, life in the Georgia mountains, and the human need to be loved and remembered.  His poetry has appeared in North Carolina and national anthologies.  His two novels, “Chessboard” and “Poisoned Pawn” are thrillers set in the Middle East and deal with America’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the struggle to end the world’s dependence on oil.  Plunkett lives in Young Harris, GA, with his wife, Vickie.

Murphy, NC, author Mary Jo Dyre (“Springheads,” Redhawk Publications, 2023) will host the event.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.

Poet Mary Ricketson to Read at Cherokee County Arts Council Oct. 10

    Cherokee County Arts Council presents Mary Ricketson, acclaimed local poet and author of 8 books, for a poetry reading at Cherokee County Arts Council, 33 Valley River Avenue, Murphy, October 10, at 5:30 pm.

Mary Ricketson

    Featured will be poems from her latest book, "Stutters, A Book of Hope," and other selections.  Discussion time will be available immediately following the reading.  Everyone is invited.

    "Stutters" is the personal collection of poems Mary thought she would never write but she’s glad she did.  

    Julia Nunnally Duncan of the North Carolina Literary Review said of the collection,  "So, as I read Ricketson’s poetic account of her lifelong struggle to understand and overcome stuttering, I vicariously experienced this struggle with her…. I think Ricketson has accomplished her goal in Stutters, it is a book of hope, a stirring and enlightening book of hope."

Zoom Poetry Workshop Oct 3: Inspiration & Prompts

 One Art Journal of Poetry Presents 

From Personal to Universal: Using Emotion to Craft Deeper Writing

with Karen Paul Holmes, NCWN-West member 

Thursday, October 3, 7:00-9:00pm (Eastern) 

Duration: 2 hours 

Price: $25 

Workshop Description: 

Writing the personal can make your poems more expansive, more capable of striking a true chord in others. In this workshop, we’ll explore ways to “go inward to go outward”— to draw from emotionally resonant personal experiences and observations to find deeper connection with readers. We’ll discuss a range of poems that effectively navigate concepts of joy, anger, grief and other emotional states. Join us for a two-hour session focused on giving you the freedom to express emotions and the tools to craft the poems you want and need to write. You’ll leave with prompts and a healthy dose of inspiration. 

About The Instructor:

Karen Paul Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in The Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her books are No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich). Her poems have been widely published in journals such as Plume, Diode, Glass, and Prairie Schooner and have also been featured on The Slowdown and The Writer's Almanac. After a long career in Corporate America, which included leading workshops at international conferences, Holmes became a freelance writer and has taught creative writing to adults at various conferences and venues, including John C. Campbell Folk School. She’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

To register: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/oneartajournalofpoetry/1393439

Owens and Beal to Read at Literary Hour Sept. 19

  Poet Scott Owens and Author Donna Beal will be the featured readers at the next Literary Hour Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Open House on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus. The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

        Scott Owens is the author of 22 collections of poetry and recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, the Next Generation/Indie Lit Awards, the NC Writers Network, the NC Poetry Society, and the Poetry Society of SC. His poems have been featured in The Writer’s Almanac eight times, and his articles about writing poetry have been used in Poet’s Market four times. He has twice been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and to be North Carolina Poet Laureate. Owens holds degrees from Ohio University, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.  He is Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University, and former editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Poetry Review. He owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery and coordinates Poetry Hickory in Hickory, NC.

Western North Carolina writer, Donna Beal, was raised in Greensboro, NC, and has lived in various towns in the eastern states. She moved in June of 2023 to her husband’s hometown of Hayesville, NC, where they live the good life with their two Chinese Crested dogs Honey Bear and Gracie Bear, an unnamed visiting bear and a gang of turkeys.

Donna Beal

        Beal is a graduate of Winthrop University with a double major in philosophy and religion and concentrations in both technical and creative writing. After college she began working in a large financial institution where she became a senior vice president and director. After retiring she pursued her interest in writing.  She has been published in numerous journals and is a member of The North Carolina Writer’s Network-West and the sistaWRITE group founded by North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green. She’s even been known to preach a few sermons.

Well known local author Mary Jo Dyre (“Springheads,” Redhawk Publications, 2023) will host the event.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.

Ricketson and Westwood to Read at May 16 Literary Hour

  Poet Mary Ricketson of Murphy, and writer David Andrew Westwood of Hayesville will be featured at the Thursday, May 16, Literary Hour at 7 p.m. in the Keith House library on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Mary Ricketson

Ricketson has been writing poetry for over twenty-five years.  Her poems have been published in numerous poetry reviews and in her recent collection, “Stutters, A Book of Hope,” as well as five other full-length poetry collections and two chapbooks.  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.

David Andrew Westwood

Westwood was brought up in 1960s London, got stuck in Los Angeles for far too long, and is now happily settled in Hayesville.  He writes mostly historical fiction — 17 novels so far — but also the occasional short story and essay.  His novels have won three awards from the Military Writers Society of America, and a recent short story was a finalist for North Carolina’s Doris Betts Prize.  His latest novel, “Bitternut Creek,” will be released in August.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local poets and writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  The public, and students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.

Owens and Beall to be Featured at April 18 Literary Hour

Poet Scott Owens of Hickory, NC, and writer Glenda Beall of Hayesville will be featured at the Thursday, April 18, Literary Hour at 7 p.m. in the Keith House library on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus in Brasstown.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

Scott Owens is the author of 20 collections of poetry and recipient of numerous awards for his poetry.  His poems have been featured in national publications and he has twice been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and to be North Carolina Poet Laureate.

Owens is Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University, and former editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Poetry Review. He also owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery and coordinates Poetry Hickory in Hickory, NC. His 21st book, "An Augury of Birds," a collaboration with photographer, Clayton Joe Young, will be out in August. And his collection of haiku, illustrated by Missy Cleveland, will be out in December.

Glenda Beall

Glenda Council Beall has taught memoir writing at the folk school, Tri-County Community College and at the Institute of Continuing Learning (ICL) for many years. She became interested in Genealogy in the early 1990s and compiled a family history book, “Profiles and Pedigrees, Thomas C. Council, and his Descendants,” which chronicles the lives of her grandfather and his 10 children born in the late 19th century.

Beall’s short stories and personal essays have been published in online journals including “Muscadine Lines,” “A Southern Journal” and “Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.” Several of her poems and essays have appeared in “Living with Loss” magazine, “Breath and Shadow,” and “Reunions Magazine.”

She is currently the North Carolina Writers’ Network -West program director.  “Now Might as Well be Then,” her poetry chapbook was published in 2009.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through October and brings local poets and writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  The public, and students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.

Chamblee Receives Western Heritage Poetry Book Award for Bierstadt Biography

NCWN-West member Kenneth Chamblee's biography in poems "The Best Material for the Artist in the World" has won the Western Heritage Poetry Book Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Ken Chamblee

The book is a collection of poems which follow the life of Albert Bierstadt, a 19th-century landscape painter of the American West.  The poems "celebrate the timeless spledor of Bierstadt's work through the witness of many voices and points of view... bringing us into intimate contact with the art," according to
New York Times bestselling author Robert Morgan.

"A work of brilliance and depth," Bob Ross, author of "Billy Above the Roofs" said of Chamblee's work, adding, the poems are sober, evocative, and respectful, and they overflow with their own penetrating light."

Bob Joly, director of St. Johnsbury Athenaeum says the poems bring Bierstadt, his contemporaries, the West, and our notions of the painter and his work to full illumination.

The Western Heritage Awards honors individuals who have made significant contributions to Western heritage through creative works in literature, music, television and film that share the great stories of the American West.  Honorees will be presented with a Wrangler award during the 63rd Western Heritage Awards dinner held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on April 13, 2024.

Karen Luke Jackson and Kathleen Calby Hold Dual Book Launch Event Feb. 1

Poets Karen Luke Jackson and Kathleen Calby will launch their new poetry books over Zoom Thursday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m.  The event is open to anyone wishing to join over Zoom and is sponsored by Redheaded Stepchild Magazine.

They will be reading selections from "Flirting with Owls" and "If You Choose to Come."  An open mic will follow the reading.

Karen Luke Jackson

Jackson, winner of the Rash Poetry Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee, draws upon family lore, contemplative practices, and nature for inspiration. Her poems have appeared in "Atlanta Review," "EcoTheo," "Susurrus," "Salvation South," and "Friends Journal," among others. She has also authored three poetry collections: "If You Choose To Come," paying homage to the healing beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains; "The View Ever Changing," exploring the lifelong pull of one's homeplace and family ties; and "GRIT," chronicling her sister's adventures as an award-winning clown. Jackson is a facilitator with the Center for Courage & Renewal. She lives in a cottage on a goat pasture in western North Carolina. Her website is: karenlukejackson.com

Calby lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hosts writer events in Henderson County for the North Carolina Writers Network. Her work appears in "San Pedro River Review," "New Plains Review" and "The Orchards Poetry Journal." Named a 2022 Rash Award Poetry Finalist, Calby published "Flirting with Owls" (Kelsay Books) in 2023 and has just completed a full-length manuscript on an Egypt journey she took.  She enjoys fried chicken and biscuits a bit too much, and long, strenuous walks not enough.

Editor Malaika King Albrecht, who hosts these launches, is a wonderful supporter of the writing community. You can sign up on Facebook for the event https://fb.me/e/1zcm2xrvc or email Jackson  atkljluke@gmail.com.

Give Yourself the Write Start in January... with a Folk School class

January 26 Weekend: "Your Write Time" 

all genres & levels of writing experience welcome

taught by Karen Paul Holmes

Come be inspired and productive while having fun in a place of beauty. Whether you’re already writing or looking for a place to begin, give yourself the gift of time in a setting conducive to creativity. Magic—inspiration, encouragement, and laughter—abounds inside the studio. 

Gain editing and publishing tips from the instructor and learn from and support your classmates’ polished and unpolished work. Return home with the motivation to continue your writing and maybe even pursue publication. 

Local residents usually qualify for a discount. 

For more information and to register visit John C. Campbell Folk School: www.folkschool.org

About the instructor:  Karen Paul Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology. Her two poetry books are No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin Books) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press). She's is widely published in literary journals, including Plume, Gargoyle, and Prairie Schooner, and her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer's Almanac and by the US Poet Laureate on The Slowdown podcast. Karen founded the Side Door Poets in Atlanta in 2010 and still hosts the group monthly. At about the same time, she started a monthly Writers' Night Out in the N. Georgia Mountains and hosted it until recently. She is also a freelance writer and has taught writing workshops at local and international conferences and various venues. Karen is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network. www.karenpaulholmes.com

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

Ken Chamlee and Annelle Beall to Read at Oct. 19 Literary Hour

  North Carolina poet Ken Chamblee and Georgia novelist Annelle Beall will read from their works at the Literary Hour in the Keith House on the John C. Campbell Folk School campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Ken Chamlee

Chamlee is the author of “If Not These Things” and “The Best Material for the Artist in the World,” a poetic biography of 19th century American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt.  He has two contest-winning chapbooks, “Absolute Faith” and “Logic of the Lost.”  His poems have appeared in “The North Carolina Literary Review,” “Tar River Poetry,” “Cold Mountain Review,” “Pinesong,” “Kakalak,” and in many other places.

        He is Emeritus Professor of English at Brevard College in North Carolina and holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.  Chamlee teaches for the Great Smokies Writing Program of UNC-Asheville and was the first director of the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, held annually in Brevard.

Annelle Beall

A native North Carolinian, Annelle Beall grew up in Wilmington, graduated from Western Carolina University, and now lives in Union County, Georgia.  Her debut lesbian romance novel, “How Sweet the Sound,” was published in July 2022 under the pen name Ann Tonnell.  Her second and third novels, “Not Sorry” and “Not Too Old” followed and her fourth book “Not Again,” is slated for release in the first quarter of 2024, with a fifth mystery/romance novel on target for the third quarter 2024.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from Western in sociology, with a concentration in journalism.  Her original “Not Sorry” manuscript landed her a mentorship with author Nat Burns through the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Cate Culpepper Mentorship Program.

The Literary Hour at the folk school is offered every third Thursday of the month through November and brings local writers to the campus to share their work with the community.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at www.folkschool.org.

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.

Dyre and Mitchell to Read at Literary Hour Aug. 17

  Author Mary Jo Dyre of Murphy and Poet Maren Mitchell will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, Aug. 17, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Mary Jo Dyre

Dyre is the author of “Springheads” which was published in 2023 and is a Murphy, NC, resident.  She began her writing career by completing her deceased brother Arnold Dyre’s half-completed manuscript of “Dark Spot” which became the final book in his Jake Baker Mystery series.

Her novel combines multiple genres of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure, and fantasy to create a compelling story mixing broad sweeps of history gleaned from the Appalachian mountains, rural Mississippi, the wild west days of Arizona, and the continent of South America.  Dyre is also known in the area for founding a school serving families and students in Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties, and serving as its executive director from 2000-2021.

Maren O. Mitchell’s poems have appeared in regional, national, and international publications including “Appalachian Heritage,” “The South Carolina Review,” “Southern Humanities Review,” “Appalachian Journal,” and several anthologies.  Three of her poems have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes and she received a 1st Place Award for Excellence in Poetry from the Georgia Poetry Society.

Maren O. Mitchell

Her chapbook is “In my next life I plan....”  She also has published a nonfiction book “Beat Chronic Pain, An Insider’s Guide.”  Mitchell, a North Carolina native now living in Georgia, taught poetry at Blue Ridge Community College, in Flat Rock, NC, and catalogued at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November, according to Glenda Beall, NCWN-West coordinator.  “Our goals for the Literary Hour at the folk school are to bring local writers and any member of NCWN who is in the area to the campus to share their work,” she said.

CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER Rarey and Raven Chiong to Read at July 20 Literary Hour

Kanute 

CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER

  Local storyteller Kanute Rarey and poet Raven Chiong will read from their work at the Literary Hour Thursday, July 20, at 7 p.m. in the Open House of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Kanute is well-known for his storytelling at house concerts, community events, schools, libraries, festivals and on stages in Georgia, North Carolina and other states as far afield as Ohio and Texas.  Chiong, whose poetry and prose has appeared in publications from coast-to-coast, will be reading from her recently published book, “Ode to the Still Small Voice—A Memoir of Listening.”

Raven and Dulce

Kanute took his first official step to the storytelling stage eight years ago after he retired to the mountains of North Carolina. His family and friends would say he has been a storyteller all of his life. He claims to come by his talent honestly. Growing up on a farm in Ohio his dad made life sound like a tall tale “holding court”at the breakfast table, he said. 

Today, in addition to performing at various venues, he works with the Georgia Storytelling Network, and the annual Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival.  He founded the Mountain Area Storytellers serving western North Carolina and north Georgia and produces a monthly Open Mic Night – Stories on the Square and a monthly Evening of Appalachian Stories at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He also produces a four-performance series, Scribes on Stage at the Peacock Playhouse. 

Kanute actively supports local and regional storytellers, writers, poets and singer-song writers. He attributes his early beginning to the generosity of members of the North Carolina Writers Network and to John C. Campbell Folk School and national storyteller Elizabeth Ellis. 

Raven’s 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.

A lifelong student, life coach, and educator, her career includes 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.

Raven 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. 

She has also 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 her greatest teachers, she said.

Local author Bob Grove of Brasstown, NC, will serve as host for the Literary Hour.

The John C. Campbell Folk School offers classes in folk arts and crafts and storytelling.  For information about the school, you can find its webpage and contact information at https://www.folkschool.org/.  Students and faculty of the school are welcome to attend the readings.

Ricketson and Ledford to read at Cherokee County Arts Council July 18

Mary Ricketson and Brenda Kay Ledford, poets from Murphy and Hayesville, will read selected poems from their published collections on Tuesday, July 18, 5:30-7:00 pm at Cherokee County Arts Council, 33 Valley River Ave, Murphy NC, across from the Mason Jar and Curiosity Bookstore. 

Mary Ricketson

Brenda Kay Ledford

Refreshments will be served and there will be time for discussion.  This event takes place in the gallery, where the paintings of Pam Strawn of Murphy will be on display. 

Everyone is invited.  Please join us.  No admission charge. 

Literary Hour at Campell School Features Beall and Owens

  Local memoirist Glenda Beall and poet Scott Owens are the featured authors for the Literary Hour on Thursday, June 15, at 7 pm in the Keith House Living Room of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.  The Literary Hour is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and is free and open to everyone.

Scott Owens

Scott Owens of Hickory, NC, writes poetry as if he were a painter. Painters see more than other people see. They look beyond the obvious. Owens sees and invites the reader to visualize images, actions, beliefs, purposes, and motives. His books cover a wide range of topics including a love of nature, surviving an abusive childhood, growing up on a farm, writing, religion, dreams and nightmares, parenting, politics, philosophy, existentialism, and, of course, love.

A professor of poetry at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Owens is the author of 19 collections of poetry, and more than 1,200 published poems. He has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, the NC Writers' Network, the NC Poetry Society, the Poetry Society of SC, and many others.

Glenda Council Beall lives in the mountains of western North Carolina with her dog, Lexie. Since 1996, her work has been widely published in numerous journals, magazines and online reviews. 

Glenda Council Beall

In 2009, her poetry chapbook “Now Might as Well Be Then,” was published by Finishing Line Press. In 1998, she published a family history book, “Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1888 - 1911).” She co-authored, with Estelle Rice, “Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers, and Fins; Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures,” an anthology of stories, nonfiction, and poetry with beautiful color photos.

For 10 years she owned and directed Writers Circle Around the Table where she brought outstanding poetry and prose writers to Clay County, NC, to teach local writers. She has taught memoir writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School, Tri-County College, and ICL at Young Harris College.

Beall is program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

CarolLynn Jones, author of “Danya,” a novel about a family surviving the Russian revolution, will host the Literary Hour.

The Literary Hour at the folk school started in 1995 and is offered every third Thursday of the month through November.

Farewell to Writers’ Night Out Features Georgia Poets

Writers' Night Out will bid farewell to its followers Friday, June 9, at 7 pm.  WNO has been a well-attended event since 2010, but is ending its run, a victim in part of the pandemic.  For the last three years it has continued virtually, which enabled it to draw a broader range of featured readers and audiences but at the cost of the personal interactions between audience and writer.

The event will feature poets Michael Diebert and Michael Walls who will read from their works followed by an open mic session for anyone wishing to read from their own works or simply bid the popular program goodbye.

        The final WNO, fittingly perhaps, will be a Zoom meeting.  Anyone wishing to join should contact Glenda Beall at glendabeall@msn.com.

Michael Diebert

Its organizers will continue to support other in-person and virtual writing events in Western North Carolina and the Georgia mountain counties of Union and Towns.

        All that being said, the featured writers for the final event are excellent examples of the talent the program was able to attract to this area.

Michael Diebert is the author of the collections “Thrash” (Brick Road, 2022) and “Life Outside the Set” (Sweatshoppe, 2013).  He has served as poetry editor for “The Chattahoochee Review,” led workshops for the Chattahoochee Valley Writers' Conference and the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference, and served as president of the Georgia Poetry Society.

Michael Walls

Diebert teaches writing and literature at Perimeter College, Georgia State University.  Recent poems have appeared in “EcoTheo Collective,” “Book of Matches,” “Anti-Heroin Chic,” and “River Teeth.”  A two-time cancer survivor, he lives in Avondale Estates, Georgia, with his wife and dogs.

Michael Walls is a retired labor lawyer who lives in Atlanta.  He represented workers and labor unions for over 40 years.  He has also been a lifetime activist and sometime voluntary attorney for peace, justice and environmental organizations.  His new book is “Climbing an Unnamed Mountain” (Kelsay Books).

        His poems have appeared in a variety of literary journals and magazines including “The South Carolina Review,” “The Midwest Quarterly,” “Poet Lore,” “Poetry East,” “San Pedro River Review,” “ISLE (Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment),” “South Florida Poetry Journal,” and “Atlanta Review.”  His chapbook “The Blues Singer” was published by The Frank Cat Press in 2003, and his first full-length collection “Stacking Winter Wood” was published by Kelsay Books/Aldrich Press in 2017.

In addition to poetry, Wall's published work includes articles in law reviews and bar publications.  Four years ago, he was diagnosed with Erythromelalgia, a rare neuro-vascular condition characterized by chronic pain and loss of mobility that has no known cure.  He is starting to write about the ways the illness and the host of autoimmune conditions that travel with it have changed and continue to change his life.

In addition to the speakers, the event will close with an open mic session during which anyone wishing to will have 3 to 4 minutes to read their own poetry or prose.  Persons attending the event can sign up for open mic by emailing glendabeall@msn.com with a sentence she can use to introduce them.

Writers’ Night Out is a North Carolina Writers' Network-West event.