Last month there was barely enough seating room for all
who attended Coffee with the Poets and Writers, a monthly event held at Joe’s
Coffee Shop, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. NC Writers' Network-West sponsors this event
that meets Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. June 10.
Two local poets, members of NC Writers' Network-West, Joan Ellen Gage and
Mary Ricketson are featured on the program this month. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open
to the public at no charge. Bring a poem or short prose, 1000 words or less,
and read at Open Mic. Joe’s Coffee shop serves fine coffees and teas, as well
as bagels and snacks. Cindy and Norma make all feel very welcome at Joe’s.
Joan Ellen Gage recently moved to Warne in Clay County
from Florida where she worked as a dental hygienist. She says that much of her writing was inspired by her patients and
their stories. Joan has published three books, A Redhead Looks at 60, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader
and Water Running Downhill!, both motivate and inspire middle-aged women, and women in general.
She writes on her two blogs, Traveling at the Speed of
Now: http://www.joanellengage.com
and A Redhead Blogs at 60: http://joanszoneblogalicious@wordpress.com
.
Joan enjoys photography, creating
unique pictures and uses her own work in her books and on her blogs. She
serves as an active administrator for the NC Writers' Network-West blog www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com
and stays busy publishing good news
from our members.
Mary Ricketson has been writing for many years and
publishes a monthly column, Women to Women, in the Cherokee Scout newspaper. She
is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor and an organic blueberry
farmer. She writes to satisfy a hunger, she says, to taste life down to the
very last drop. Mary is inspired by nature and her work as a counselor.
Her poetry has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review,
Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains and
other anthologies. She published a chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name and
most recently, a collection of her poems, Hanging Dog Creek. She is a
Cherokee County Representative for North Carolina Writers' Network-West and
president of Ridgeline Literary Alliance.
She won
the gold medal for poetry in the 2011 Cherokee County Senior Games/Silver
Arts and silver medal for 2012 and 2013, and first place in the 2011 Joyce
Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest.
Come early for a good seat and plan to go to lunch with us after the reading.
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Contact NC Writers' Network-West Representative, Glenda Beall,
at 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com for more information.
