Photos of Netwest Members at CWP on Wednesday

Carolyn Johnson, a long time member of Netwest Linda Smith posts Netwest events in local newspapers and schedules the John C. Campbell Folk School readings Marjorie Hobkirk listens intently to Brenda's reading at Coffee with the Poets.

Coffee with the Poets - Last time at Phillips and Lloyd

Wednesday was our last time to meet at Phillips and Lloyd Books in Hayesville. Elizabeth Rybicki, who has graciously hosted us at the Dessertery in her store, is remodeling and bringing in the Yarn Shop as part of her store now. Our last day was memorable and who better to end our stint at the book store than Brenda Kay Ledford. She not only shared work from Simplicity, her collabration with her mother, Blanche Ledford, but she played harmonica as part of her presentation. Once again, Brenda surprised us with another facet of her various abilities. Bob Grove (above) read a piece from his yet to be published memoir. Karen Holmes (above) read one of her poems. Karen also shared with us the delightful time she had at the Gathering of Poets last weekend.

Brenda Kay played harmonica between poems and stories.

We are all saddened that we won't be meeting at Crumpet's Dessertery with Elizabeth (above) but Coffee with the Poets will continue next month on the second Wednesday of the month, as usual. Check this blog for more information later.

Rosemary Royston, Congratulations!

Congratulations to our Program Coordinator, Rosemary Royston. Her poetry chapbook, Splitting the Soil, will be published by Redneck Press.

This excerpt is from the website of Redneck Press:

Rosemary Royston’s chapbook Splitting the Soil will be published in late 2011/early 2012. Rosemary is a poet and writer who has lived in the foothills of the Southern Appalachians for the last sixteen years. A native of north Georgia, she studied at Young Harris College, The University of Georgia, and received her MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, KY.

Rosemary’s poetry has been published in The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Alehouse, Literal Latte, Public Republic, and Dark Sky Magazine. Her essays on writing poetry are forthcoming in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets, McFarland.

She was the recipient of the 2010 Literal Latte Food Verse Award, and she was the 2004 recipient of first and third place in poetry, Porter Fleming Literary Awards. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the North Carolina Writers Network-West. http://theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com/

Poetry Contest

Poets living in NC and GA – pay close attention to this blog announcement, as YOU meet the criteria to enter the first ever Byron Herbert Reece Society Poetry Contest. For those unfamiliar with Reece, he was an Appalachian poet, fiction writer, farmer, and teacher. His life was too short, but he lived with great feeling, which is expressed through his poetry and fiction. You may learn more about Reece here: http://www.byronherbertreecesociety.org/bhr_theman.htm. Currently, the Reece property in Blairsville, Georgia, is being developed to house an amphitheatre, Reece’s writing studio, a visitor center, farm equipment of Reece’s, and nature trails. It is the mission on the Byron Herbert Reece Society (of which I’m a member) to preserve, perpetuate, and promote the literary and cultural legacy of Byron Herbert Reece. For the contest, there is no theme, and all judging is blind (as a board member I will NOT be participating). The only requirement is that you live in NC, TN, VA, WV, KY or GA. Jim Clark will select the winning poem, and the poet will receive $300 and the opportunity to read her or his poem at the Society’s annual meeting in summer 2011. To enter, fill out the entry form, send three poems and your $15 entry fee. Details are here: http://www.byronherbertreecesociety.org/poetry_contest.htm. Send your best, postmarked by May 2, 2011.

--Rosemary Royston

COFFEE WITH THE POETS

Brenda Kay Ledford will be featured during Coffee With the Poets at Phillips & Lloyd Book Shop in Hayesville, NC on Wednesday, April 13, 10:30 a.m.

Ledford is a native of Clay County, NC. She earned a MA in education from Western Carolina University and did post-graduate work at the University of Tennessee. Her writing has appeared in many publications including Our State, Pembroke Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, Broad River Review (Gardner-Webb University), Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, The Reach of Song, other journals and anthologies.

She’s listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers and Who’s Who in America. Ledford is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network West, North Carolina Poetry Society, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and chaplain for the Clay County Eastern Star.

Ledford received the Paul Green Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her three poetry chapbooks: Patchwork Memories, Shewbird Mountain, and Sacred Fire. She also won the award for collecting oral history on Velma Beam Moore, a prominent citizen of Clay County.

Recently, Ledford co-authored the book, Simplicity, with her mother, Blanche L. Ledford. It’s a collection of poetry and prose about Clay County and coincides with the sesquicentennial celebration of our county. Simplicity is available at: Phillips & Lloyd Book Shop, Hayesville, NC.

Writers' Night Out Moves to Mountain Perk

It’s the place to be once a month in Hiawassee: Writers’ Night Out. The event, which draws 30 or more people from four counties, has a new home at Mountain Perk, across from Towns County High School. This month, writer Ron Salzer will be featured on April 15 at 7 p.m. Those who’d like to share their own poetry or fiction can participate in the open microphone portion of the program following Salzer’s reading.

Salzer has entertained audiences with his humor at the Writers’ Night Open Mic for the last year. In addition to writing fiction, he has been a sculptor of iron for over 40 years and builds private property bridges nationwide as president of Bridges to the Other Side, Inc. Salzer lives in Hayesville, NC with his wife Charlotte.

Writers’ Night Out was formerly at Green To Bean Coffee House, which recently closed. The event now takes place at the larger Mountain Perk, located at 1390 Highway 76 East in Chatuge Harbor plaza in Hiawassee. The evening is free and open to the public. Food, gourmet coffees and other refreshments are available for purchase. Those interested in reading at the open microphone may sign up at the event. Each writer will have three minutes to read.

In addition, music will be performed by award-winning songwriter, Wyatt Espalin, who recently moved back to his native Hiawassee after a stint in Nashville. He delighted the audience at last month’s Writers’ Night Out.

Usually on the second Friday of the month at 7 p.m., Writers’ Night Out has been changed to the third Friday for April. Beginning on May 13, the event will resume its normal schedule on second Fridays.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Mountain Perk at (706) 896-0504.

BLUE RIDGE WRITER'S CONFERENCE

Glenda Beall, Brenda Kay Ledford, Bob Grove, and Carol Smucker attended the 14th annual Blue Ridge Writer's Conference at the Arts Center in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia on April 2.

Robert Lee Brewer, senior editor of WRITER'S MARKET and POET'S MARKET, spoke about marketing your work and launching your career.

Scott Owens, editor of "Wild Goose Poetry Review," spoke about writing prompts and online journals.

C. Hope Clark, editor of the website, "Funds for Writers," was one of the speakers.

Celia Miles, co-editor of CHRISTMAS PRESENCE and CLOTHES LINES, attended the conference.

Diana Smith and Jo Carolyn Beebe

Cowan's Book Nook of Blue Ridge, GA sold books for the authors.

WORDS ANTHOLOGY

Tom Davis, editor and publisher of Old Mountain Press, recently released WORDS, a Poetry and Prose Anthology. Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "Reach of Words," appeared in this collection. Her works have been included in all 15 Old Mountain Press anthologies. Blanche L. Ledford' short story, "Fainting Words," was included in WORDS. Barbara Ledford Wright' essay, "Fruit of Our Words," also appeared in this collection. Only writers previously published in Old Mountain Press were eligible to submit to WORDS, or persons recommended by these contributors. Writers with works in this anthology include: Jim Clark, Celia Miles, Nancy Dillingham, Al Manning, Debra Elramey, C. Pleasants York, Ed Cockrell, Tom Davis, Jo Barbara Taylor, Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler, Mark Harden, and others. Marian Kaplun Shapiro, thrice Senior Poet Laureate of Massachusetts, volunteered to judge the contest for this anthology. Mark E. Harden's poem, "Gun Line," won the Best of the Best Award. Honorable mentions included: Michael Colonnese, David Treadway Manning, and Jerome Norris. For more information about WORDS, go to: www.OldMountainPress.com.

Another Review for Living Above the Frost Line Forthcoming

I am very pleased to share that my review of Living Above the Frost Line was just accepted by Prairie Schooner! Let's hear it for Nancy's great work, which will be recognized in this wonderful journal. If you are not familiar with Prairie Schooner, check them out here: http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/index.html. As soon as I know the actual publication date, I will share. Join me in congratulating Nancy on her great work being reviewed by such a great journal.

WHAT DAVID CHORLTON SAYS ABOUT NANCY SIMPSON'S POETRY COLLECTION

Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems

By Nancy Simpson. Reviewed by David Chorlton.

Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems, by Nancy Simpson, 2010, Carolina Wren Press, 108 pp., paper, ISBN 978-0-932112-61-3, $15.95. Reviewed by David Chorlton.

This is not a book of poetry which grabs its reader’s attention with spectacular lines and extroverted virtuosity, rather a more contemplative one. While the language is generally uncomplicated, it has momentum and holds interest with a grasp of concrete imagery. The virtues in Nancy Simpson’s works include restraint and humility, as well as being firmly set in natural surroundings; for example, "On a Mountain in an Unfinished Cabin" (in the opening section with poems from 1977-81) ends with this stanza:

I am among the living.

So many trees,

I make an agreement with leaves,

acting silly, singing-

Give me all your oxygen,

I’ll give you CO2.

Wegia is pleased. It rains.

We watch the sun set as if visible.

While many of these poems grow from the details of daily life, such as waiting at the mailbox or watching for "Carolina Bluebirds" and noting the date they arrive (December 3rd), there is frequently an underlying drama not far away. "The Wreck" is short and well paced in providing the information that leads from:

Witnesses saw it all, heard the crash,

the speeding blue Camaro stopped dead

at Pinelog Bridge. Sam Beck insists

he saw a man fly through the windshield,

to:

Something in me moving fast

wants to fly out through my eyes

like a body thrown free of the wreck.

One of the later poems, describing a walk around Knowles Lake with a granddaughter, highlights the balance of an everyday life within its radius of personal concern and the natural world. In this case, the walkers see a turtle heading into traffic and are able to steer it to safety. We care for what we can, while greater forces often conspire to leave a feeling of despair.

"Voices from the Fringe" is the most ambitious poem in the book, interweaving public and personal aspects of the Gulf War. The way war slips into our lives far from the battleground itself is first expressed when news of hostilities beginning is announced on the radio between music by Mozart and Haydn. "Who wants war?/I’ve only just started to stop/grieving over the last one." The poem reads meaningfully as a journal of the war and voices raised against it domestically. For all the implicit horror, the author remains steady and focused as she quotes Norman Schwarzkopf ("We are softening the battlefield") and notes that "Today President Bush wants us to pray." A daughter tells her mother not worry, and after a message from her son a mother says "That was/the last I heard from him." Then confetti, not bombs, falls amid the fervent cheering in Manhattan.

So much of this book hinges on considering what is happening on a vast scale as opposed to the scale of an individual’s life. "Small Scope" is a gentle enough poem, layering observations from the spreading asphalt to a skunk’s carcass on the road to a walk along the beach, and concluding with "I see myself/and all of us, minute." It is interesting to find one of the more dramatic beginnings to "This Night": "Insomnia is a mountain and grief/is a lion gripping my throat." This time it is mourning that occupies the subconscious without letting go. Throughout, each small gesture points to a more universal one, and more than a tree is lost when an oak dies and something more is gained when the cicadas arrive.

Nancy Simpson is very good at showing her readers that looking around them will reveal more pleasures than expected, and yet she never leaves the mistaken impression that they live in an untainted or unthreatened world. Here is the ending of her reflection on "Network News," a poem with more than a dash of her folksy wisdom:

Would it be better to turn off

the set, refuse to hear, maybe

make up a lie or two of my own?

I have to make myself laugh

sometimes or go mad

and my gods help me do that.

It is satisfying to find a deserving poet well represented by this selection from more than thirty years of looking at her world and writing about it with heart.

Want to buy a copy from Carolina Wren Press?


http://carolinawrenpress.org/books-and-merchandise/poetry/living-above-the-frost-line


or on line at Amazon.com

Basic Blogging Terms

Not everyone is familiar with blogging terms, even some of us who have blogs.

Below are a few basic words used in the blogging world that might prove helpful.

BLOGGING

• Weblog- An online dated diary listing your periodic thoughts on a specific topic, often in reverse chronological order.

• Blog - short form for weblog

• Blogging - the act of posting on blogs

• Blogger - a person who blogs

• Blogosphere - The internet blogging community



BLOG COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONS

• Index page - the front page fo the blog

• Header - the topmost part of the blog usually listing the blog title.

• Footer - the most bottom part of the blog usually listing navigation and copyright statements

• Sidebar - One or more columns along one or both sides of most blogs main page

• Categories - A collection of topic specific posts

• Post, Entry- individual articles that make up a blog

• Comments - enabling readers to leave their remarks

Spring/Summer Folk School Readings

Thanks to Linda Smith who organizes our readings at the John C Campbell Folk School. Mark your calendars now for upcoming spring/summer readings, which are the third Thursday of each month at 7 pm, Keith House.

April 21 - Nancy Simpson and Peg Russell
May 19 - Karen Holmes and Carole Thompson
June 16 - Brenda Kay Ledford and Glenda Beall
August 18-Bob Grove and Glenda Barrett

OOPS, Corrected Janice's website below. Try again

Janice Holly Booth - author who travels solo

On my last trip to Wildacres Retreat I met an interesting writer, Janice Holly Booth, at dinner. She told me she had written a book titled Only Pack What You Can Carry, and it was going to be published by National Geographic. She was expecting that day, by mail, her business cards with her book website.


“I’ll give you one when I get them,” she said. Janice was pretty cool, I thought, for someone who had a first book coming out from a major publisher.

The next time I saw her, she was a bit more excited about her new success, but I feel that Janice is one who takes most things in stride. After all, she has dined with a Prince.

She insisted I should travel solo, even though I’m a good bit older that she. Janice said you miss so much when you are traveling with others. I am looking forward to reading her book and learning more about her life and her travels. But more than that, I want to read about her four secrets to a fulfilling life.

In the evenings at Wildacres during The Gathering, writers share some of their work in the lobby of the lodge. Janice did not read from her book, but she had written an essay about writing and publishing her book. It was clever and humorous. She caught everyone’s attention. You can read more of this saga on her blog. Go to

http://www.janicehollybooth.com/ and click on Blog at the top of the page.

Janice told me the book was not only about travel, but what she had learned in her travels. Her amazing adventures that took place all over the world intrigued me. I felt a twinge of envy that I had not had that confidence when I was young – that self assurance that I could do whatever I want.

After meeting Janice last fall, I continued to think about her and her book. I even wrote a post about her for my blog, but never published it. Now, I’ve heard from the author again and I look forward to seeing her at Wildacres in May. I plan to ask her to bring a copy of Only Pack What You Can Carry, signed, of course.

An editorial synopsis from the National Geographic Book Division:
“…this unique book about personal growth through solo travel goes a step beyond Eat, Pray, Love, and Under the Tuscan Sun. Where these well-loved bestsellers help women dream, Booth’s book is just this side of Gonzales’s Deep Survival. A book of depth and wisdom, Only Pack What you Can Carry helps readers act and change their lives through solo travel and by addressing four key concepts: solitude, introspection, courage and commitment. In a lively and confidential tone with page-turning personal anecdotes that range from a week galloping across Ireland “jumping everything in sight” to learning how to master the art of the flying trapeze, she shares her secrets to a fuller life through solo travel with every other ‘average person who has a full time job, doesn’t have enough time to get everything done in a day, and has to make sacrifices and save money in order to travel.’ Through more than a decade of incredible self-challenges, observations, and discoveries she shows how crucial it is to find time alone—whether traveling to the park down the street or ziplining through the Costa Rican rain forest—to bring refreshing and vital dimension—and growth potential— to your life.”

Macon County Public Library Features WCU Literary Festival Authors

The Franklin Public Library will host three events celebrating the WCU Literary Festival that occurs during the first full week of April. I will be reading and discussing my book Coming to Rest on Sunday afternoon, March 27 at 2:00. Please go to this link to find more information about these events: http://www.fontanalib.org/pdfs/literary-festival-Franklin-2011.pdf.

Coming to Rest

1.

The Name

Because she’d not bury

the name with the dead child,

she made her surviving five children

swear they’d pass it on

to the first daughter born to them.

Another name for letting go.

Or holding on.

Another name for home.

2.

Birthday Ghazal

Why this old Persian form for today, of all days?

Why not sonnet or blank verse to help me take hold?

Down to the wire goes the season’s gold,

late this year, so long it took to take hold.

I don’t care that my days tumble down

to the compost pile. I want to look, to take hold.

Seize the day. Carpe Diem, if you like.

Bite down hard on the hook and take hold.

Down the creek float the leavings of what I once was.

Just a girl. Mostly waiting for luck to take hold.

Last night rain kept the roof busy scolding

me, wake up you dumb cluck and take hold.

I’ve already answered my e-mail, my voice

mail, my snail mail. My real work? To take hold.

Kathryn died too young. Age twelve. Now she tolls

in the dust of my name: to come back, to take hold.

3.

Sinking

The aunt I was named after died too young.

She sank at age twelve

into diabetic pneumonia. Then coma,

too pretty a word for her dying. Why cling

to another old form like this no-holds-

barred song for my aunt who died too young

to care about romance? What good is a song

now, to her? Or to me? Maybe I’ve grown too old

for such artifice, as if I’m trapped in a coma

of middle-aged dullness. My tongue

slips on names. But not hers. But why dwell

on her death. So she died, much too young,

not all like an angel who could do no wrong,

not at all blonde & pretty as I had been told.

When she sank into that final coma,

she must have looked ugly. I can’t make this

villanelle sing, no matter what I’ve been told

about Kathryn, who died too young,

years before insulin, of diabetic pneumonia.

4.

Stuck

She smoothes her skirt and squints at me.

I don’t know what to say. Or why she’s come.

The clock’s stopped ticking on the wall. Back home

again, she sees what I see, same old creek

reflecting nothing but a sky where trees

fish with their lines of moss all day. Let’s thumb

a ride to town, she dares. Let’s make the phone lines hum

above these droughty fields. Now that I’m free

I’m getting out of here. She says she wants to hear

the latest gossip, wants to have a little fun.

She tells me everything that hangs around

too long gets stuck. I nod. I don’t dare

ask her why she’s here, this dust I’ve stirred from

sleep. This shell of light. This sullen hologram.

5.

Free

This nameless creek

almost obscured by shade

where she was last seen

by the camera lens

keeps rushing through me

as she hikes her skirt

and stands wanting to be

brave enough to walk

into the current,

sickly girl whose cropped

hair won’t blow

in the summer

wind, too short,

too short, she cries,

coming to rest

in the photograph.

New Poetry Contest

This year the Byron Herbert Reece Society is having its inaugural poetry contest. The contest is open to those in the following southern Appalachian states: GA, NC, VA, TN, WV, and KY. Byron Herbert Reece Society members, excluding board members, are eligible to participate. There is no theme for the contest, and poets should complete the entry form, send three unpublished poems along with the entry fee of $15 to P.O. Box 811, Young Harris, GA 30582 by May 2, 2011. The final judge is Jim Clark. The winner will receive $300 and will be announced and recognized at the June 4, 2011 annual meeting. For the entry form and details, visit the Society’s website at: http://www.byronherbertreecesociety.org/poetry_contest.htm.

Classes at the Writers Circle

The deadline for registering for Karen Holmes' class on learning techniques to improve your reading before an audience is Tuesday, March 15 midnight - send in your registration fee for one or both classes, or call 828-389-4441 to hold a place. This class is a two parter, but you can take one or both. The first class we learn what we can do to be a better reader or speaker, but the second class is to follow up on what we learned at the first class and see if we have improved. This is a very worth while class for all writers. Even if you feel you are already very good, (and don't we all?) I'm sure you will learn something that improves your reading. I look forward to learning how I can become a better reader and speaker.
One class - $30.00 both classes $50.00 - A big bargain.

Saturday, March 12, we enjoyed a delightful three hours with Estelle Rice, Netwest Member and writer of short stories and poetry, who taught us about the cumulative sentence and how to crack open our sentences to enrich our stories. She is just one of our local writers who is a student of writing, who never stops learning and sharing her knowledge with others.

If you have not been a student at Writers Circle, I hope you will click on www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com and see what is coming up in spring and summer; maybe you will plan to join us in our comfortable and casual atmosphere. We have fun in our classes and hope to see you soon at Writers Circle.

STILL CELEBRATING ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE

A note to authors who contributed their writing to ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE  from your editor, Nancy Simpson

ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains is almost one year old.  Thanks to Glenda Beall and her market team, the first printing quickly sold out.  The anthology was reviewed by Scott Owens and Helen Losse. It is now in its second printing and still selling. 

Today the anthology will be presented to members of the Appalachian Studies Association meeting at the University of Eastern Kentucky. Rosemary Royston, NCWN West Program Coordinator, a graduate of the Spalding University MFA Writing Program, was invited to read her scholarly essay, “Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Echoes of Emerson.”

I’ve had the good fortune to read a copy of Royston’s essay. I must tell you, Rosemary Royston celebrates poetry in the anthology, focuses on four specific poets, and compares specific poems to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay published in 1846,  “Transcendentalism.” 

Two poems by Glenda Barrett are celebrated and discussed: “Echoes” which inspired the anthology title, and “When the Sap Rises.”  Eileen Lampe’s poem “Dancer” is said to be “written in the vein of Dylan Thomas.” “I Hear the River Call My Name”  by Mary Ricketson and “ Progress” by Brenda Kay Ledford are celebrated and favorably discussed in Royston’s essay. 

Fellow authors, today around four o’clock, if your ears begin to burn, it may be because scholars are talking about our anthology. Get your copy out and read along.

Rosemary Royston lives in northeast Georgia. Her poetry has been published in The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine, Public Republic, and Dark Sky Magazine. Her chapbook was a finalist in the 2009 Jessie Bryce Niles chapbook contest, and she was the 2004 recipient of first and third place in poetry, Porter Fleming Literary Awards. Her poem-- Igneous or "Of Fire" won the 2010 Literal Latte Food Verse Contest. Rosemary Royston holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University.  She is Vice President for Planning and Assessment and Chief of Staff at Young Harris College. She teaches creative writing at Institute for Continuing Learning and  will teach in 2011  at John C. Campbell Folk School and in the Writing Program at YHC.

Blue Ridge Writers' Conference - Blue Ridge, Georgia

MARK THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR NOW! April 1 and 2
You don't want to miss the Blue Ridge Writers Conference in its fourteenth year.
The Blue Ridge Writers’ Conference is back for its 14th year, featuring literary agent Sally McMillan as keynote and speakers Robert Brewer, editor of Writers’ Market, Scott Owens, editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review, Jennifer Jabaley, 2010 Georgia Author of the Year in the YA category, and Hope Clark, editor of Funds for Writers website.

April 1 and 2, 2011. Please note a location change – this year the conference will be at the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia.
For more information call 706-632-2144.
If you haven't attended this conference in the past, April 1 is the Friday night reception. Saturday, April 2, is the all day conference with workshops, etc. If you want to learn about publishing, this conference should be on your list of events for 2011.

Writers' Night Out and Janice Moore

WRITERS’ NIGHT OUT FEATURES JANICE MOORE, MARCH 18
--Karen Paul Holmes

Come, be part of Writers’ Night Out. This month, award-winning poet and Young Harris College associate professor of English, Janice Townley Moore, will read her poetry. The March 18 event at Green To Bean Coffee House in Hiawassee begins at 7 p.m. Those who’d like to share their own poetry or fiction can participate in the Open Microphone portion of the program, which follows the featured reader.

A native of Atlanta, Janice Townley Moore has lived in Hayesville, North Carolina, for many years. Her poems have appeared in such journals as The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Connecticut Review, Southern Poetry Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and numerous others. Among the anthologies that include her poetry are The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, and The Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia. In 2009 she won first place in poetry in the Press 53 Open Awards, an international contest. Last year she won first place in the Georgia Poetry Society competition.

Moore serves as the facilitator of a poetry critique group, meeting monthly at Tri-County Community College and sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Writers’ Night Out, usually on the second Friday of the month at 7 p.m., has been changed to the third Fridays in March and April. Beginning on May 13, Writers’ Night Out will resume its normal schedule on the second Friday of each month. Green To Bean Coffee House is located at 538 Bell Creek Road in Hiawassee, next to the Humane Society Thrift Shop and across from McDonald’s. Come early to get a seat: The February event had standing-room only. The evening is free and open to the public. Light snacks and refreshments, including coffees from freshly roasted beans, are available for purchase. Those interested in reading at the Open Mic may sign up at the event. Each writer will have three minutes to read.

For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Green To Bean at (706) 896-4524.