Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association offers classes

If you are into visual arts, Blue Ridge Mountain Arts is the place this summer. I'll bet you could teach a writing class for them if you live close enough to Blue Ridge, Georgia. 

 https://myemail.constantcontact.com/2022-Late-Summer-Workshops-and-Classes-at-BRMAA--August-2022--.html?soid=1102083584445&aid=g2jfJME7xOc

This is the home of the Blue Ridge Writers Conference held each spring and founded by Carol Crawford years ago. Carol is a member of NCWN-West and was the facilitator of our Netwest Poetry Critique group when I first moved to these mountains. 

BRMAA has always been a friend to us and recently sold one of my poetry books in their gift shop. Thanks, BRMAA.

"Crop Dusters"

Karen Jackson's Poem Published in Susurrus

Karen Luke Jackson

"Crop Dusters," a poem about my mother and bluebirds, just appeared in the summer issue of Susurrus, a relatively new online journal that focuses on the American South.  Below are links to the poem and to the journal if you'd like to check it out. 

Crop Dusters 

Susurrus

Celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Gene Hirsch, poet

 

Those in the photo above met Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of the late Dr. Gene Hirsch who was the founder of the writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the early nineties. Because of his dedication to writing and writers, many poets, novelists, and creative nonfiction writers found their voices, and found the confidence and inspiration to write their stories in verse or in prose.

All of us present on Saturday told our story of how Gene influenced us. He was the most generous of people and taught poetry classes for free out of his cabin in Cherokee County NC.

He taught at the folk school every time he came down from his home in Pennsylvania where he worked as a geriatric doctor. Gene was a person who encouraged others. He never made anyone feel they were unworthy to call themselves poets and as a result so many people published their words that were found to be important to others. 

I am especially grateful to Gene Hirsch because the writing program at the John Campbell Folk School was where most of my writing education took place. I did not study creative writing in college but was once told I had an equivalent of a master's degree right here from the best writers anywhere. 

People like Valerie Nieman, Kathryn Byer, Darnell Arnoult, Steven Harvey, Carol Crawford, Nancy Simpson, and so many other wonderful teachers came to Brasstown NC, and taught us for a week and made a huge difference in our lives. 

I took one or two week-long classes every year for ten years and then I taught at the folk school. Thank you, Gene. You never knew how many people you touched because you convinced the director and the board of the folk school to include the craft of writing in their schedule.

Thanks to Mary Ricketson for organizing this memorial to Gene.

Famous Hometown Poet Brenda K. Ledford Will Speak at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature award-winning poet Brenda K. Ledford on Wednesday, September 14, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.

The event is free and open to the public.  

An open mic will follow the presentation. Bring a poem or short prose piece of about three minutes to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West (NCWN-West) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Brenda K. Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County, NC. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School and earned a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She's done post-graduate work in Journalism at the University of Tennessee and holds a degree of highest honor in Creative Writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford's work has appeared in many publications including Our State, Asheville Poetry Review, Appalachian Heritage, 50 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and many other journals.  She's received the Paul Green Multimedia Award thirteen times for her blogs, books, and collecting oral history on Southern Appalachia. 

Her children's book The Singing Convention received the "Children's Book Award" in 2021 from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Her poetry book, Leatherwood Falls, is upcoming with Kelsay Books.

Besides writing, her hobbies include storytelling, playing the keyboard and harmonica, singing Gospel music, and reading.  She also enjoys photography and has won awards for her landscape and nature photos.

Her award-winning blog can be reached at https://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com/

Coffee With the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022.

Please do not park in the Book Store parking lot. For information contact Joan Howard joanhoward121@gmail.com.

Written by Joan Howard

Writing In, Of and For Place, Fall 2022 Writer's Workshop

 Fall 2022 Writer’s Workshop

Writing In, Of and For Place

With Annette Clapsaddle
Author of “Even as We Breathe”

Explore methods for infusing physical sensation and environmental awareness into your writing through practice, observation, and structure. We will focus on what it is like to experience a specific landscape and community and the responsibilities we have when sharing it with others through our writing. This workshop is applicable to fiction and creative nonfiction writers. All levels welcome.

Annette Clapsaddle

 

September 24, 2022
9am-3 pm
$100 per Person
Lunch Included
Register at Coweeschool.org

Register Now – Class is limited to 15 participants

Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center

51 Cowee School Drive

Franklin, NC 28734

Memorial planned for Dr. Gene Hirsch, poet and inspiring leader of writers in western NC and North Georgia

 Saturday, August 20,  1 - 2 PM at John C. Campbell Folk School in Open House Pavilion on campus

Bring a poem of Gene’s or a poem of your own to share.

Dr. Gene Hirsch inspired so many poets in our area to look at the world in unique ways. He inspired us with his kindness and his permission to take a chance with our writing. He wanted poets to have a safe and supportive place to create. Gene never liked to judge others. He respected all. 

Through his support of North Carolina Writers Network -West and through his classes at the Folk School he was one of the people who opened our world in these beautiful mountains to be a poetry place where poetry was, is, and will continue to be created. He influenced everyone he met.

Directions to the  site of the memorial:

Approaching the John C. Campbel Folk School from the area of Clays Corner and the Shops of Brasstown, take the first left, past the gift shop, past Davidson Hall, and see the Open House pavilion on right. Parking is available there, close, or down at the gift shop for those who prefer to walk a bit. One unisex restroom is available in Open House.

Thanks for helping us honor Gene.

Diana Smith and Mary Ricketson

No need to RSVP

If need to contact:  Mary Ricketson maryricketson311@hotmail.com

                                   Diana Smith  paws10@windstream.net

Writer and Poet David Plunkett to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

 Members of Mountain Wordsmiths are honored to have as our featured reader David Plunkett on Thursday morning, August 25, at 10:30 via Zoom. Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will continue its online Zoom presence because local writers as well as writers from other cities and states are now joining us each month online.

Plunkett is the author of two novels Chessboard (2019) and Poisoned Pawn (2022).  Readers of Chessboard call it “intriguing and captivating,” a “strong story… about human nature, the shadow workings of our government and terrorists in Afghanistan,” and an “accurate and believable… contemporary thriller.” His poems “North Carolina Mountains Shade to Blue” and “Saturday” were included in the most recent Old Mountain Press anthologies The Cataloochee Bridge and Oops.  Other poems “Kitner’s Dog” and “Moby Dick” and the short story “Evidence” were published in the scrivener.

As a journalist, Plunkett has won writing awards for reporting and feature writing from the Georgia Press Association and the Alabama Press Association.

As Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC, his professional writing has been published in law journals and magazines, as well as food industry newsletters, and was influential on national and state policies affecting food safety and consumer protection.

Plunkett began writing poetry and short stories in elementary school and continued to write for pleasure through college and law school, publishing several poems in various college student publications.

He hopes to close out the Chessboard series with a third novel tentatively titled Endgame. Other projects currently in the works are a chapbook of sonnets and other poems tentatively titled A Sonnet for My Wife and collections of his short stories and flash fiction.

Plunkett lives with his wife Vickie in Towns County, GA, just a long centerfield throw to home plate from Lake Chatuge and within walking distance of a curiously detached section of North Carolina.

NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. Also known as NetWest, our organization will offer writing events and writing classes online, while several writing groups are now meeting face-to-face again.

Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

By Carroll Taylor 

                        

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

Literary Hour Returns to John C. Campbell Folk School

The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West’s Literary Hour returns to the John C.Campbell Folk School on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 7 p.m., after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. The event will be held in the Open House. The Literary Hour is free and open to the public.

The featured writers for August are Brenda Kay Ledford and Glenda Beall.

Brenda Kay Ledford

 Brenda Kay Ledford, a seventh-generational native of Clay County, North Carolina, is an award-winning author, blogger, and retired educator. Her work has appeared in many journals including Asheville Poetry Review, Our State, Appalachian Heritage, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Guidepost Magazine, 49 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and many other publications. She writes about nature and wants to help preserve the culture of this region. She's received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians thirteen times for her books. Ledford will read poetry from her latest book, Blanche, Poetry of a Blue Ridge Woman, which was released by Redhawk Publishing in 2021.

Glenda Council Beall

Glenda Beall serves as program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. Her essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in magazines and literary journals as well as online. Her poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. She has co-authored a collection of stories, poems, and essays Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins, Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures. 

Much of her writing is filled with stories about horses, dogs, and cats that have been a part of her family. Her love of genealogy led her to compile stories of her grandfather and his ten children in Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 – 1911). Beall’s online classes, Writers Circle around the Table, and classes for the Institute of Continuing Learning reach people from all over the country. She will read her creative non-fiction as well as short stories.

 The Literary Hour will be held on the third Thursday of the month through November at John C. Campbell Folk School in the roofed and open pavilion of the Open House. From Clays Corner in Brasstown turn onto Brasstown Road, then turn left on Scoggins Road then left again to pass Davidson Hall. Or coming from Marsh Creek, turn right onto Davidson Road and follow around to Open House. Parking is in front near the vegetable gardens.

 Anyone with a love of the written word will be transported by the talent of each month’s featured writers. Contact Patricia Zick at pczick23@gmail.com for further information.

Patricia Zick

Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets and Writers

Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets  and Writers on August 10 at Moss Memorial Library

Catherine Carter, professor at Western Carolina University

 Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Catherine Carter on Wednesday, August 10, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.

The event is free and open to the public.  An open mic will follow the presentation.  Bring a poem or short prose piece of about three minutes to participate.  CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West (NCWN-W), which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Catherine Carter 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. 

Catherine also "enjoys cooking, especially vegetable and beans, because it's probably the original human art and it produces something everyone can enjoy; and I'd probably enjoy some kind of crafting if I weren't a complete clutz with my hands; I get Wordle most of the time but not always."

Catherine 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; it has also appeared in Orion, Poetry, Ecotone, RHINO, North American Review, Southern Humanities Review, Poetry South, Tar River Poetry, and Ploughshares, among others.  

Coffee With the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022.  Masks are optional.  

Please do not park in the Book Store parking lot. 

For more information, contact Joan Howard, joanhoward121@gmail.com

Novel workshop

John Desjarlais, novelist

John Desjarlais will be leading a 2-day fiction workshop, "Write That Novel!", at The Barn In Penrose (near Brevard, NC) on September 22, 23. Details and registration here: https://www.thebarninpenrose.com/one-day-workshops. For more on me, see www.johndesjarlais.com