Carroll Taylor and Don Long featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Donald E. Long

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, (CWPW) will feature poet Donald E. Long and author Carroll S. Taylor on Wednesday, August 21, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC

The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece 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.

Born in Sebring, Florida, Don Long and his wife, Marti, feel at home in Cherokee County where they have a home and spend part of each year. Long has degrees in Psychology and Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a commercial pilot license for airplanes and helicopters. 

After two years of college, he enlisted in the Army where he earned a commission and was trained to fly airplanes and helicopters. This led to two one-year tours in Vietnam flying helicopters.

After retirement from the military, Long worked for the federal government in the United States and Germany, with short forays into Bosnia, Croatia, and Macedonia. 

Starting in his teen years and throughout adulthood he has written poetry. His poems have been used in citizenship swearing-in ceremonies and Florida Flag Day ceremonies. One of his poems was featured at the 2013 Florida Convention for Vietnam Helicopter Pilots. His story about Vietnam has appeared in two different military anthologies and was featured in VHPA Aviator Magazine.

Carroll Taylor

Carroll S. Taylor grew up in rural West Central Georgia. A graduate of Tift College (Mercer University), she holds graduate degrees in French, English, and Educational Leadership. She retired after teaching for over forty years. She is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side. Her books emphasize generational storytelling and her love for reptiles and amphibians, especially snakes. 

She and her husband retired to Hiawassee, Georgia where she has embraced the writing community and she volunteers to do publicity for Coffee with the Poets and Writers. She’s always looking for adventures, whether it’s standing on Prime Meridian, studying in Oxford, watching alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp, touring the Scottish Highlands, or taking pictures of flowers and critters.

She is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, and is serving as co-chair for A Day for Writers 2019, the writing conference August 24 in Sylva, NC.  She is also a member of the Georgia Poetry Society. Readers may find her journal blog at chinaberrysummer.com and follow her at facebook/chinaberrysummer.

For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

Some authors and poets who will be present for A Day for Writers. Deadline is August 19.

Ed Southern, Executive Director for NC Writers' Network. Photo made in Sylva, NC at City Lights Books some years ago when Ed was new on the job. He was the first Exe. Director to visit us here in the mountains. He will be with us on August 24 for A Day for Writers.

Carol Crawford, carolcrawfordediting.com is a writer and a teacher as well as an editor. Her students always gain important knowledge about writing when attending classes with Carol.

Joseph Bathanti 

Poet, novelist, and award-winning writer and educator. I hear from writers and poets who know him. They all like him. He will be with us on August 24 in Sylva at the Jackson County Public Library for A Day for Writers.

Writers, from back, left, Joan Howard, Brenda Kay Ledford, Mary Ricketson, Diana Smith at Carol Crawford's Blue Ridge Writers' Conference . Janice Moore sits in front. Even seasoned writers and poets know the value of attending writing conferences.

Pat Vestal has a history in publishing and play writing. Her plays have been published in NYC.

This is the cover of one of C. Hope Clark's mysteries. The main character is female and Clark's books are page-turners.