North Carolina Poetry Society hosts 15th annual Spring Literary Festival at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC, on Mon., April 3, 2017and Walk into April, Sat., April 8, 2017 at Barton College, Wilson, NC

Western North Carolina poets participating in the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series will be reading their work at the 15th annual Spring Literary Festival at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee on Monday, April 3, 2017, at the A. K. Hines University Theater from 12-1 p.m.  Poets reading include Pat Riviere-Seel, the region’s Distinguished Poet for 2016-17, and four student poets: Mary Coggins, Benjamin Cutler, Jade Shuler, and Cathy Sky.  The student poets will read again at area public libraries on April 5, April 18, April 20, and May 8.  For further information, contact Pat Riviere-Seel.

Walk into April will take place on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at Barton College in Wilson, NC. The North Carolina Poetry Society and the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series again celebrate our state’s accomplished poets.  This year’s event features Bruce Lader and Beth Copeland as well as Amber Flora Thomas, Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for Down East.  The program runs from 9:45 until 3:00.  For more information contact Rebecca Godwin or Marty Silverthorne.
You can find the North Carolina Poetry Society's blog at:  http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org

Western Carolina's Annual Literary Festival, April 3-6, Features Billy Collins, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, and Others

Noble Netwest writers, April and May are fine times in writing in Appalachia.  In particular, you may not know about Western Carolina University's annual Literary Festival, this year from April 3-6.  All events are free and open to public on Western Carolina's campus (most in the University Center Theater, Thursday night keynote in the Coulter Recital hall.)  You can find schedule and details at www.litfestival.org. 

Mark your calendars now for WCU's Fifteenth Annual Spring Literary Festival, featuring keynote author Billy Collins, along with writers Stephen Clingman, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Robert Gipe, Michael Knight, Ray McManus, Carrie Mullins, Elena Passarello, Jamie Quatro, Sue Weaver-Dunlap, Paul Worley with WCU student writers, Gilbert-Chappel Distinguished Poet Pat Riviere-Seel with student poets (including Swain High teacher Ben Cutler and his student Jade Shuler), and special guest, photographer Roger May.  

We hope to see you there!

MEET TERRY KAY, AWARD WINNING AUTHOR

Meet Terry Kay, award winning author who is featured fiction writer at A Day for Writers, May 6, 2017, in Sylva, NC, Jackson County Public Library.

He is the author of seventeen published books, including the 2014 release of Song of the Vagabond Bird.

His other works include The Seventh Mirror, The Greats of Cuttercane, Bogmeadow's Wish, The Book of Marie, To Dance With the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli, The Year the Lights Came On, To Whom the Angel Spoke, as well as a book of essays, Special K: The Wisdom of Terry Kay.

Three of his novels have been produced as Hallmark Hall of  Fame movies –To Dance With the White Dog, The Runaway and The Valley of Light. Additionally, a Japanese film based on To Dance With the White Dog was produced. His books have been published in more than twenty foreign languages, with To Dance With the White Dog selling two million copies in Japan.

An essayist and regional Emmy-winning screenwriter as well as a novelist, Kay's work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.
LaGrange College and Mercer University have recognized his work with honorary doctorate degrees. Atlanta Writers Club named their annual fiction award the Terry Kay Prize for Fiction, 2015.

In 2011, Kay was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writers Association. He has received the Georgia Author of the Year award four times and in 2004 was presented with the Townsend Prize, considered the state's top literary award.

In 2006, Kay was inducted in Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, and in 2009 he was the recipient of the Governor's Award in the Humanities (GA), 2009.

In 2007, Kay was presented the Stanley W. Lindberg Award, named for the late editor of The Georgia Review and considered one of the state's most prestigious literary honors, given for an individual's significant contribution to the preservation and celebration of Georgia's literary heritage.

Kay’s best-known book, To Dance With the White Dog, was made into an award-winning film. Of this book, Anne Rivers Siddons said, “(This) is what literature is – or should be – all about, and what the South at its best still is. Terry Kay is simply a miraculous writer, gifted with poetry, integrity and rare vision.”

A native of Hart County, GA, Kay and his wife now reside in Athens, GA.

Learn more here

Presenters for A Day for Writers