NETWEST MEMBER, JACK JOSEPH PRATHER RECEIVES RAVE REVIEWS

Jack Joseph Prather, author and poet, is reading and signing his highly praised new novel - The Day of the Knights.

Saturday, June 13th from 11:30-2 p.m. at Mike's On Main, Main Street and Third Avenue, Hendersonville, NC

Tuesday, August 18th from noon-1:30 at the Lanier Library, Chestnut Street, Tryon, NC

Thursday, August 20th from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Henderson County Library, Washington Street, Hendersonville, NC

Be sure to check out Jack's website: http://www.jackjosephprather.com/
Order The Day of the Knights from Amazon.com and other sites you will find on Jack's website.

One reviewer asks for a sequel, and others say this book is impossible to put down. A page-turner, it seems. If you have read Jack Joseph Prather's books, please leave a comment.

Candy Maier Scholarship Fund

Mary Ricketson, Netwest Rep for Cherokee County, Mary Jo Dyre, Netwest Representative on the Board for NCWN Board of Trustees, Glenda Beall, Program Coordinator for Netwest, Gwendie Camp, Chairman of the Candy Fund, Cheryl Dietrich, treasurer of the Candy Fund stand in front of a beautiful quilt at the Curiosity Shop Bookstore in Murphy. The quilt was raffled off and a name drawn the day of our visit.

Recently Gwendie Camp and Cheryl Dietrich drove down to join Mary Jo Dyre who acts as a liaison for the Candy Fund, and her guests, Mary Ricketson and Glenda Beall to discuss the future of the new non-profit charity over lunch at Shoebooties' restaurant in Murphy. In the three years this fund has been active, they have raised $11,000 and given out 50 scholarships totaling $8, 000.
They are ready now to develop a website, send out a newsletter and hold a series of fundraisers. Gwendie says they have volunteer positions available on the Board of Directors and for regional coordinators to reach out beyond the boundaries of Asheville to women south and north of Buncombe county.

We offered our support from Netwest because we believe this to be a needed organization. The Candy Maier Fund provided scholarships to several of our members in the past couple of years. The Fund is seeking donations to help meet the growing need for Candy Fund scholarships. Donations, any amount is appreciated, are tax-exempt.The Candy Fund is the only scholarship program of its type in this area.
You can reach the Candy Maier Scholarship Fund for Women Writers by email: thecandyfund@yahoo.com or by snail mail: 4B Long shoals Road #164, Arden, North Carolina, 28704-7781.

Jo Carolyn Beebe and Karen Holmes read to a full house at JCCFS

Karen Holmes impressed students from around the U.S. as well as locals with her powerful poetry Thursday evening at John C. Campbell Folk School. Karen is a recent member of Netwest. Enthusiastic and energetic, Karen is helping with the new Netwest anthology, and she publishes and edits the online newsletter, Netwest News. With her background as V.P. with ING corporation, she brings new ideas and talent to Netwest.

Jo Carolyn Beebe writes historical fiction. Her long time interest in genealogy provides fodder for her writing. At JCCFS Thursday evening the large audience enjoyed excerpts from her most recent young adult manuscript about Willie, a young boy in Mississippi during the War Between the States. With humor and mystery, she enthralled her listeners, and left everyone wanting more.

Support Our Local Bookstores

Curiosity Shop Bookstores in Murphy and in Andrews, NC
are proud to welcome Senator Zell Miller to our stores to sign his new book, Purt Nigh Gone, about the disappearing "old mountain ways".

Saturday, June 6th - Murphy store (46 Valley River Ave.) from 11:00 am-1:00 pm. This will coincide with the Murphy Spring Festival in downtown Murphy.

Saturday, June 13th - Andrews store (1060 Main Street) from 11am-1pm.

JEFF BIGGERS TO SPEAK IN ASHEVILLE

Jeff Biggers will speak at the Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC on Friday May 22 at 6:30 pm. For more on Jeff click on link below.

http://www.maconnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4722&Itemid=85

Want to reach Ed Southern?

New Address:Ed Southern, Executive Director
North Carolina Writers' Network
P.O. Box 21591
Winston-Salem, NC 27120-1591

336.293.8844

Jeff Biggers dramatizes the history of Appalachia

Jeff Biggers. Have you heard of him? I heard him dramatize one of his books today and I, like all the audience, was mezmerized. All I could think of was: If history was taught to our children the way Jeff taught us today, we'd have college history classes filled to the max. Jeff is a fount of Appalachian history. According to his session today, almost everything that is good in the USA, came from Applachia. And he gave us samples to prove what he said.

I recommend to anyone, if you see this man's name on a program in your area, go see and listen to him. After hearing him, his audience swarmed the table buying his book. I came away feeling I'd learned exciting tales about history and the people who made it.

Blue Ridge Book and Author Showcase - I'm Still High!

Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, poet and Netwest Rep for South Carolina is always gracious and friendly. Even though her books had not been ordered for the book fair, she gained many new friends and names for her newsletter.

Bob Greenwald and his group of volunteers conducted a full day of activities for writers and book lovers.Above is Kathryn Stripling Byer and Robert Morgan, author of the new novel Boone.

Poetry, alive and well in Cherokee County NC, May 7

Dr. Gene Hirsch and his John C. Campbell Folk School poetry class visited the Netwest Poetry critique group on Thursday evening, May 7.
Linda Smith, far end on right, is reading a poem she brought for critique.

Poets Glenda Barrett, author of When the Sap Rises, and Joyce Foster, author of Painted Leaves, a book Kathryn S. Byer called one of the most beautiful poetry books she has ever seen, follow the words of a poem read by Linda Smith. Joyce attended Gene Hirsch's class and lists him in her book as her mentor. Beyond Joyce in the photo is Clarence Newton, Gene Hirsch, Karen Holmes, Barbara Groce, and Maren Mitchell.

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.