NETWEST WRITERS, POST YOUR GOOD NEWS HERE

Many of our Netwest members are authors of this blog, http://www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com/. That means you have permission to post your own work on this blog. If you are a member and would like to post on this site, please email me, writerlady21@yahoo.com, and you will be sent an invitation to post



This site was set up in 2007 to promote writing and writers in the Netwest area of NC, GA, SC, and TN. Since then, a number of our members have gone on to set up their personal blogs, websites and some have begun literary journals.



We urge you to continue to post here where we have viewers from all over the world. Send us news about your region and your successes. We love to post your photo and your good news on this blog.



Send us the schedule for writing events in your county and we can post those for you.



Exciting things are happening in the Netwest area and this is where you will learn about them.

Dr. Gene Hirsch at JCCFS this week

Dr. Gene Hirsch is teaching poetry this week at John C. Campbell Folk School. His class will read on Thursday afternoon, 4:15 , in the Keith House. Dr. Hirsch is responsible for instigating the Writing Program at JCCFS and comes down from Pennsylvania each year to teach a class or two. He has been most generous to Netwest and we appreciate him. He and his class will attend the Netwest Poetry Critique group at Tri-County College on Thursday evening at 7:00 PM.

Blue Ridge Book & Author Showcase Hendersonville, NC

9:00-9:10
Robert Morgan
welcome and keynote introduction
Conference Hall/Gala
9:10-9:50
Sharyn McCrumb
Keynote Address. Tell it Slant: Finding Truth in Fiction
Conference Hall/Gala
10:00-11:00
Louise Bailey
The historical and cultural dimensions of henderson county
Conference Hall/Gala
10:00-11:00
Vickie Lane
Appalachian Mysteries
Conference Hall/Cortland
10:00-11:00
Rose Senehi
Romantic thrillers threaded with environmental themes
Cortland Hall/Macintosh
10:00-11:15
Student Presentations
School-age writing talent to the microphone
Classroom 213
11:00-11:30
Author Display tables open Book sales/signings, author/public interaction.
11:30-12:30
Sheila Kay Adams
Historical novels, mountain culture in storytelling and ballad style
Conference Hall/Gala
11:30-12:30
Keith Flynn
Inside the poetry genre
Conference Hall/Cortland
11:30-12:30
Susan Reinhardt
Southern Humor
Conference Hall/Macinstosh
11:30-12:30
Student Presentations
School-age writing talent to the microphone
Classroom 213
12:30-1:30

Lunch break

1:30-2:00
Author Display tables open Book sales/signings, author/public interaction.

2:00-3:00
Kathryn Stripling Byer
Poet Laureate of North Carolina
Conference Hall/Gala
2:00-3:00
Joan Medlicott
Never too late to become a published author
conference hall/cortland
2:00-3:00
Gary Carden
Western North Carolina storytelling and folklore
Conference Hall/Macintosh
2:00-3:00
Marvin Cole
Character portrayal of mark twain
room 213
3:10-4:10
Robert Morgan
Boone's legacy reaches to the Pacific
conference hall/gala
3:10-4:10
Peggy Collins
"The self-sufficiency syndrome"--Learning to accept help
conference hall/cortland
3:10-4:10
Jeff Biggers
the appalachian character and other memoirs
conference hall/macintosh
3:10-4:10
Steve Kirk
Navigating the publishing labyrinth
room 213
4:10-5:00
Author Display tables open Book sales/signings, author/public interaction

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge: Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.


Above is the title for the new Netwest anthology. It is appropriate for the vast number of poets and writers whose work is included.

Nancy Simpson, editor of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, has worked long hours night and day to choose the absolutely best work from around nearly one hundred submissions.

We hope to send out acceptance letters in the coming week to those who sent an SASE informing them of the protocol expected when sending in their revised copy on disk.

Now that we have a title, we need submissions for cover art. If you are an artist, or a photographer and want to send an 8 X 10 color photograph, we welcome submissions from anyone living in the Netwest area. After acceptance, the photo will need to be sent on disk or jump drive as a jpeg file.
Keep a copy of your photograph as we will not mail them back.
Photo credit will be given in the anthology.

Mail submissions to Glenda Beall, 581 Chatuge Lane, Hayesville, NC 28904
Be sure you include your contact information including phone number and E-mail address.

Heart Poetry Award

Brenda Kay Ledford will judge the HEART magazine national poetry contest. The winner receives $500 and the entry deadline is June 30, 2009. For contest guidelines, go to: www.nostalgiapress.com.

This is the third time Ledford has judged national poetry contests for Connie Lakey Martin, editor and publisher, of Nostalgia Press in Orangeburg, SC. The press was founded in 1986.

You may read Ledford's bio at: www.brendakayledford.com. Also, visit her blog: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com.

BRITAIN'S FIRST FEMALE POET LAUREATE

('I look on it as recognition of the great women poets we now have writing' ... Carol Ann Duffy. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe)

If you go to my ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com site, you will find a lengthy post about Britain's first woman Poet Laureate. I welcome your visit!

Netwest Anthology Update

We are all looking forward to the new Netwest Anthology edited by Nancy Simpson. We are extremely pleased to have had many submissions, and so many excellent writers sending poems, essays and short stories. For those of you who are anxious to know if your work has been selected, please be patient a few more days. Our editor, who has worked diligently and put in long hours and late nights, seems to have come down with a bug, not swine flu, but has been sick this week. We expect to send out letters next week if all goes well.
Nancy says she has enjoyed reading the work of our mountain writers and she assures me we will have a terrific book. Meanwhile we have an agreement with a printer for one thousand books, first printing. We are already working on the marketing of the anthology. We'll be calling on our representatives in all counties to give us suggestions as to the best outlets for selling this book to tourists and book lovers. We will plan readings in all counties of Netwest. If your work is in the book, we hope you will take part in those readings.
The first Netwest anthology, Lights in the Mountains, stories, poems and essays by writers living in the southern Appalachians, sold out of two printings of 750 books each printing. Because we do our own editing, copy-editing, and formatting, we can produce the book less expensively than if we used a POD or small press. However it takes a bit longer to get the book out there.

This endeavor is labor intensive, but it is a labor of love. You will be pleased and proud of the anthology you all have helped produce.

Meet the Cracker Queen at Osondu's

This week's events at Osondu's Book Store in Waynesville, NC
Thursday the 30th at 7:00 p.m. meet the author
Lauretta Hannon author of The Cracker Queen will be here to talk and sign her books. Come and meet this fabulous writer.


Saturday the 2nd of May
@ 11:00 a.m. meet the author
Terry Rollins author of Married to the Military will be here to talk and sign her books. If you want to hear some great stories of men and women who give to their country come and meet Terry Rollins.

@ 7:00 p.m. music
Chris Minick will be here. Join us for great music, tea, wine, company, and coffee.

Netwest News, the online newsletter published and edited by Karen Holmes has been e-mailed. If you did not receive your May edition, please let us know. All members on our most current membership list receive this excellent update on NCWN West (Netwest).

If you do not reside in the Netwest are, but you are a reader of this blog and wish to receive a copy of Netwest News, please send your name and e-mail address to writerlady21@yahoo.com

Kudos is a column in the newsletter that lists names of members who recently published poems, essays, fiction or books. Karen spotlights events held in the Netwest area or close enough for our Netwest members to drive.



If you have news or articles on writing and you are a member of Netwest, please send them to Karen karen.holmes@comcast.net, or to writerlady21@yahoo.com. Deadline for the next issue is July.

ASHEVILLE WORDFEST ON WEBCAM

(Li-Young Lee)


ASHEVILLE WORDFEST IS COMING, APRIL 30-MAY 3. Go to their website for all the information you could possibly want: schedule, poets, history, and a photo archive of last year's festival. WordFest live webcasts the evening (7-9 pm) readings from this site so everyone with access to wifi, dial-up, ethernet and telepathic powers can "attend" this intercultural, international, inter-aesthetical (!) poetry event. With a line-up including Quincy Troupe, Liz Bradfield, Li-Young Lee, Valzhyna Mort, Frank X Walker, you don't have to wonder what to do next Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings.

Below is your schedule of readings. Here also is the Asheville WordFest promo video produced by Kurt Mann at American Green. http://vimeo.com/4296487

SCHEDULE
7 pm Thursday April 30 at Jubilee! 46 Wall St.
Lee Ann Brown, Patrick Rosal, doris davenport, Ross Gay


10 and 11 pm departing from Jubilee!
LaZoom Poetry Bus Tour presented by Catalyst Productions

4 pm Friday May 1 at Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center:
Caroline Mercurio, Holly Iglesias, David Hopes

7 pm Friday May 1 at Jubilee!
Elizabeth Bradfield, Gary Copeland Lilley, Quincy Troupe

10 pm Friday May 1 at Bobo Gallery at 22 Lexington Ave
Thomas Rain Crowe & the Boatrockers w/ Coleman Barks followed by Wordfest Wide Open Mic. . .

Saturday Morning 10 a.m. May 2 Bookworks 428 1/2 Haywood Road
West Asheville 828.255.8444
Poetry and Citizens Journalism w/ Laura Hope-Gill and Wally Bowen

2 pm Saturday May 2 at Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center at 56 Broadway
Keith Flynn, Pat Riviere-Seel, Ekiwah Adler Belendez

7 pm Saturday May 2 at Jubilee!
Valzhyna Mort, Frank X Walker, Li-Young Lee

10 pm Saturday May 2 Hookah Joe’s at 38b North French Broad
Poetix Lounge featuring The Poetix Vanguard w/ an open set

Sunday Morning May 3 10 a.m. Bookworks 428 1/2 Haywood Road
West Asheville 828.255.8444
Writing the Imaginative Storm Workshop with James Nave

3 pm Sunday May 3 at Malaprops Bookstore/Café at 55 Haywood St.
Debora Kinsland Foerst, Landon Godfrey, Paul Allen followed by Closing Reception

Netwest Members Attend Spring Conference

It was a delight to see some Netwest writers attending the Spring Conference in Greensboro today. Wayne Drumheller, James Cox, Michael Beadle and our old friend, Al Manning were there.

Wayne is from Brevard and this was his first conference. Although we had met by e-mail, it was nice to put a face to the name. James Cox who is one of the editors of The Hod, a new literary magazine urged me to let our readers know that he needs submissions now. Send him poems, stories, or essays and don't worry that they might not fit. You won't know what works here until you send him work and his editors make decisions about content. I promised I'll send him some of my work. They are planning a June publication date.

I ran into Michael Beadle, one of my favorite poets and one of my favorite people networking in the exhibitors hall.

This was an excellent time to meet and get advice on submitting to the publications and small presses like Press 53 and Main Street Rag. Finishing Line Press was also there but no one was sitting at the table when I was there.

The day was packed chock full and I didn't get to visit all the tables, but did talk to the folks representing Snake Nation, a literary journal from Valdosta, Georgia. I'm especially happy I met them.

Tomorrow I'll review my notes and post about the Publishers Panel, one of the most enlightening and interesting sessions of the Conference.

Thanks to Ed Southern and Virginia Freedman who organized this conference. I think the nearly one hundred registrants, including me, came away motivated, more informed and excited about writing.

Support Our Local Bookstores

Two Independent Book Stores - in Andrews NC and in Murphy, NC

This Friday (April 24th), the merchants in downtown Andrews will be having great sidewalk sales and displays for Earth Week. The Curiosity Shop Bookstore is having special sales, so please stop in and see them!

Saturday (April 25th), downtown Murphy merchants are featuring a town-wide sidewalk sale to benefit Relay for Life.
Stop in at The Curiosity Shop Bookstore and check out the special sale tables and purchase luminaries in honor of loved ones.

Songwriter and poet Bruce Piephoff will perform Friday, May 1st in Murphy - 7 to 9pm
He will perform Saturday, May 2nd in Andrews - 7 to 9pm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Murphy hosts musicians from 5-7 pm on Fridays (other than music nights)

Book Clubs - Murphy meets Tuesday, April 28 to discuss Still Alice, by Lisa Genova. (Call 835-7433 for details)
Andrews Book club will meet Thursday, May 7 at Book Store to discuss Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.
(Call 321-2242 for details).

ASHEVILLE WORDFEST: Coming Our Way VERY Soon

Last year Asheville Wordfest took its inaugural flight. A festival devoted solely to poetry landed in town. Asheville, that is. Two of the guiding spirits, as well as the corporeal organizers, were Laura Hope-Gill and Sebastian Matthews. Now the second landing of Wordfest is about to take place, beginning next Thursday. Go to the Wordfest site for more information, including schedules and list of poets. Headliners include Quincey Troupe and Li-Young Lee, but the roster of lesser-known poets is just as dazzling.



(Asheville WordFest organizers Laura Hope-Gill and Sebastian Matthews are bringing together poets from a variety of traditions. Photo by Anne Fitten Glenn.)

I asked Laura to share her vision of Asheville Wordfest with me. She said that was a dangerous thing to ask! She could talk about it for hours, her hopes for its growth, her reasons for devoting so much of her life and energy to it. What follows is an unexpurgated version of her email to me, interspersed with photos of some of the featured poets.


Glenis Redmond, Patricia Smith, and Laura at last year's Wordfest.)


I think the really important thing to convey about Wordfest is that it is product of many years of Asheville poets' legacy-building. From the early nineties until now, there's been a strong poetry community. (I see it as a healing of what happened to poor Thomas Wolfe whose words won him exile from his city.) James Nave, Glenis Redmond, Bob Falls, Allan Wolf, Keith Flynn and more recently Graham Hackett, Sebastian Matthews, Jeff Davis, and too many more to list, have stoked the fires for a free poetry festival for this town. Back in the early 90's there was a poetry event every weekend evening, in some crazy location, ranging from the Green Door to the Diana Wortham, which back then, like the Green Door, allowed local performers to use the mainstage (!) for a mere 20% of the door. The town came out for these events.



(Debora Kinsland Foerst, from Cherokee)

Wordfest was dreamed up at a table at Malaprops, where I think all of us have read at one time or another. James Nave, Jeff Davis, Glenis Redmond and I sat around after a broadcast of Wordplay and up it bubbled. It's interesting that three of us are rooted in the performance scene--we've always had that drive to make poetry public, to literally give it away. That's the spirit of creativity, so we keep that at the heart of Wordfest. Lewis Hyde's book *The Gift* is one of the most important books in my world. In that book, the poet explores the creative economy, one based on circulating energy, rather than trapping it in place. For Whitman, poetry was currency. He spent it generously and in return he received it generously. He devoted hours to writing letters for wounded soldiers. For him, there was no difference between service and poetry. Hyde also studies ancient economies and folktales, revealing that cultures have survived quite well on this circular economy. It's interesting to me that we're witnessing the end of the linear economy (however many bailouts we attempt in order to put off the inevitable). It's a perfect time for creativity to rise, for people to give things away for free, such as a poetry festival, and enjoy seeing how it comes back to them in other forms. So, it's about much more than poetry for me. It's about restoring things to a more natural economy.



(Keith Flynn, founder and editor of Asheville Poetry Review and widely published poet)

We invite local businesses and groups to sponsor poets as way of integrating poetry into the marketplace. For the amount it costs to buy a paper ad in one issue of a magazine, a business or group can actually pay for the poet's airfare and (part of) a reading fee and give much more life to the money, and reach many more people (through our website, press and the actuall event itself) in a much more human way.



(doris davenport, formerly of NC, now teaching at Albany State University)

Also, WordFest presents poetry as Citizens Journalism. This is simply an emergence from my experience of watching Dr. Maya Angelou on Nightline on September 11. She was talking about how we need to "feel" what has happened, how we need to grieve, and Ted Koppel said, "Well, thank you for that poetic reflection, Dr. Angelou. And now for a more realistic perspective." And gone was the poet and up came a general or colonel. That was it. Neither of those perspectives is more realistic than the other. There are two realities--the active and the reflective. Asheville Wordfest, by presenting poetry as Citizens Journalism, explores this.




(Pat Riviere-Seel)

We are funded by the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Humanities Council, two amazing examples of circular economy in the way they return taxpayers money to the taxpayer in a higher form, that of art. My own company, The Healing Seed, picks up the rest of the tab along with Amy Mandel, Shiner Antiorio, Katina Rodis, Laurie Masterton, Grateful Steps Press, Maggie Wynne and many other members of our community. As the years continue, I envision more businesses and friends will "sponsor-a-poet" by donating money. It can happen, We can change the economy into a creative one, and see how everyone benefits. Asheville Wordfest is one model for doing this.

Coming Events at City Lights Bookstore

Dear Friends,

City Lights will host two local authors for separate programs this weekend.

First, Jim Costa, Professor of Biology at WCU and Director of the Highlands Biological Station, will be at the store on Friday, April 24th at 7:00 p.m. to present a program on Charles Darwin. He is author of the just-released critical edition, The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species. His discussion will focus on making Darwin's legacy understandable and relevant for the general public.



On Saturday afternoon, April 25th at 2:00 p.m., we will welcome Cashiers resident Joyce Foster, who will read from her new illustrated collection of poetry, entitled Painted Leaves. The book includes stunning watercolor illustrations by Jane Smithers, who will also be in attendance.

Please call 818-586-9499 for more information.

THE CLOTHES WE WEAR: A Call for Submissions

We are soliciting
Material from women writers in western North Carolina
For a second book project

Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham want your stories, memoirs, essays/reflections, poems for an anthology about the garments we wear—metaphorically, symbolically, literally---from hair bow to bra to Birkenstocks, from christening gown to prom dress, from waitress uniform to nine-to-five stiletto heels.

We expect an October 2009 publication date, in time to market the book alongside the 2008 Christmas Presence.



General Guidelines


Submit no more than 2000 words
Previously published material is fine–as long as you provide acknowledgments
You retain all rights to your material
Send in an email attachment (or contact us)–in Ms Word or RFT
Formatting for submissions:



Double space with one-inch margins
Left justify only
Center or left justify title



Use 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred) for body and title

Editing is a “given,” but we will try to ask about changes
DEADLINE: MAY 2, 2009
In return for your effort and creativity, you will receive

A complimentary copy of the book
An opportunity to buy additional copies at reduced cost
A publication party and potential readings/signings

Contact Information:
Celia Miles (277-6910)> celiamiles@fastmail.fm
Nancy Dillingham (254-3143)> nandilly@earthlink.net

We are excited about compiling an interesting and entertaining collection of theme-related work from women writers in this region. We know you’re out there! So, we invite you to look into your clothes closet (past or present), and if you have a story to tell, a memory to share, a point of view to espouse, send it along. We promise to treat it with care.