Poetry and Song-writing Lyric Contest for Clay County Schools, NC, renamed Simpson Beck Poetryand Song-writing Lyrics Contest

Nancy Simpson

Reba Beck

The Clay County Historical and Arts Council and the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, in an effort to promote the arts in our community, are again co-sponsoring a poetry writing and a song-writing lyric contest for Hayesville High and Middle Schools this month. The writing contest has been renamed the Simpson Beck Poetry and Song-writing Lyrics Contest, in honor of its founders Nancy Simpson and Reba Beck. 

 

The winners will be announced Monday, April 16, 2018, and the award ceremony for them will take place on Monday, April 23, 2018, at 7:00 PM at the Hayesville High School Lecture Hall. The public is invited to attend this event, and their will be refreshments and cookies.

The poetry judge for the contests is Rosemary Rhodes Royston. She is the author of the book, Splitting the Soil, a widely published poet, a representative of the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, and a professor of English at Young Harris College.

Songwriting Lyric judges include Rob Tiger, local songwriter and singers, Brian Kruger, and Wyatt Espalin.

For more information, please contact Joan Ellen Gage, at: iamjellen1953@gmail.com

Loren Leith, Maren O. Mitchell, and Rosemary R. Royston to read at JCCFS, The Literary Hour, Wednesday, April 18, 2018

On Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School and NC Writers' Network-West will sponsor The Literary Hour. At this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus, in Brasstown, NC. The Literary Hour is held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated. This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month's featured readers will be:  Karen Paul Holmes, Maren O. Mitchell, and Rosemary Rhodes Royston.

Loren Leith is the author of MOSQ, by Shepherd Graham (pen name), winner of the Silver Royal Palm Literary Award and the Pascoe Award for Best Thriller of 2011. She is the recipient of the RPLA award for her short, nonfiction story, My Box Top Cat from God. Leith is known for her powerful, poignant, and often humorous nonfiction short stories, soon to be published in book-collection format.

Leith has published numerous professional and scientific articles and authored speeches given to nation-wide psychology-conference audiences.

She is the Founder and Director of Wordsworth Editing, and previously held a position as Literary Judge for the University of Montclair.

Maren O. Mitchell: A prolific writer,Mitchell’s poems appear in POEM, The Comstock Review, Slant, A Journal of Poetry, The Pedestal Magazine, Tar River Poetry, Poetry East, Hotel Amerika, Chiron Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Appalachian Heritage, The South Carolina Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Lake (UK), Skive (AU), The Classical Outlook, Town Creek Poetry, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Appalachian Journal, The Arts Journal and Red Clay Reader #4.

Her work is included in The Crafty Poet II: a Portable Workshop; The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins; The Southern Poetry Anthologies, V & VII; Stone, River, Sky: An Anthology of Georgia Poems; Sunrise from Blue Thunder; Nurturing Paws; and Echoes across the Blue Ridge.

Poems have been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize by the contributing editors of Pushcart.

Mitchell's nonfiction book, Beat Chronic Pain, An Insider’s Guide, is available on Amazon and through www.lineofsightpress.com.

Rosemary Rhodes Royston: Her chapbook, Splitting the Soil, is currently available through Finishing Line Press and amazon. Her poetry and flash fiction have been published in the following journals: Southern Poetry Review, Appalachian Heritage, NANO Fiction, The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, The Museum of Americana, Razor Literary Magazine, The Kentucky Review, Town Creek, *82 Review, KUDZU, Coal Hill Review, STILL, Literal Latte, New Southerner, Flycatcher, Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Motif version 3, and Alehouse. 

Two of Royston's essays are included in the anthology Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland). Books reviews have been published in Prairie Schooner and, most recently, Appalachian Heritage. 

She holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. Read an interview with Rosemary at Writer’s Digest. Royston blogs at: https://theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com/.

Brenda Kay Ledford to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, April, 18, 2018, at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

Brenda Kay Ledford, local poet, will read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC, 28904, at 10:30 AM. Admission is free, and the public is welcome to attend.

A seventh-generational native of Clay County, NC, Brenda Kay Ledford is a retired educator. She received her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University and studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee. Ledford holds a Creative Writing diploma of highest honors from Stratford Career Institute.

She’s listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, and Who’s Who in America. Ledford belongs to North Carolina Writer’s Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Georgia Poetry Society, and is a charter member of Byron Herbert Reece Society.

Her work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Pembroke Magazine, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Asheville Poetry Review, Town Creek Poetry, Charlotte Poetry Review, Wild Goose Poetry Review, The Broad River Review, and 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies.

Finishing Line Press published her three poetry chapbooks:  Sacred Fire, Shewbird Mountain, and Beckoning. Aldrich Press printed her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that won the 2015 Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has won the Paul Green Award nine times for her poetry books, collecting oral history on the Southern Appalachian history, and her blogs.

Ledford blogs at:  http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com

http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com

http://claycountyyore.blogspot.com

Those who have heard Brenda Kay Ledford read her poetry understand her love for the mountains and the people who live here.

We urge those who plan to read at Open Mic, bring a poem by one of our co-founders, Nancy Simpson or Kathryn Stripling Byer if you can. We are honoring them this month, as it is National Poetry Month.

To participate in the Open Mic session, we request readings be limited to one or two poems or no more than three pages, double-spaced, prose writing. NCWN-West is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, one of the largest state literary organizations in the country.

Contact Glenda C. Beall, glendabeall@msn.com for more information or phone: 828-389-4441.