JANICE TOWNLEY MOORE TO READ AT COFFEE WITH THE POETS AND WRITERS IN HAYESVILLE, NC, AUGUST 12, 2015 10:30 AM

This month we are happy to have Janice Townley Moore as featured reader at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Joe’s Coffee House, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. We meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 12.

Janice facilitates the NCWN-West Poetry Critique group that meets monthly at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC. An Atlanta native, Janice recently retired from Young Harris College in Georgia where she was a professor of English for many years. Moore taught creative writing and poetry at YHC, and her special areas of interest include contemporary poetry and Southern literature.

In addition to her teaching duties, she was chair of the YHC Humanities Division for eight years and served 12 years as poetry editor for the Georgia Journal. Moore claimed first prize in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards and was awarded first place in the Georgia Poetry Society's annual competition in 2011.

Her work has appeared in more than 60 esteemed journals, anthologies and textbooks, including The Georgia Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia, Contemporary Georgia Poets, Women Writing in Appalachia and the Southern Poetry Review.

Janice Moore is author of Teaching the Robins, a poetry chapbook, published by Finishing Line Press in 2005. She is co-author of Like a Summer Peach, a great little book of recipes and poems.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers includes an Open Mic session. This is open to the public and anyone with an original poem or short prose piece is welcome to share it. We ask that prose pieces be no longer than 1500 – 1800 words.

Joe’s Coffee House is known for various kinds of coffee and tea. Water, soft drinks and bagels are available as well. Plan to stay for lunch with us at Angelo’s across the street. We want to get to know you.

Call Glenda Beall 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com for more information

Glenda Council Beall

Clay County Representative for NCWN West

Mountain resident, Bill Ramsey, selected for NCWN Board of Trustees

We congratulate NCWN West member Bill Ramsey of Hendersonville who has been selected to serve on the NCWN  Board of Trustees.

The North Carolina Writers' Network welcomes three new members to its Board of Trustees: Margaret D. Bauer, Bill Ramsey, and Ward Brian Zimmerman.

"New voices are essential for an effective board," said NCWN Executive Director Ed Southern. "Our new trustees bring with them a wealth of experience and talent, and hail from parts of the state—the coast and the mountains—that too often have been under-represented."

Bill Ramsey is an active supporter of literacy and literature. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Blue Ridge Community College and as an advocate for Blue Ridge Literacy Council and the Henderson County Public Library. In 2008, he helped to organize the Blue Ridge Bookfest and has remained on the leadership team.

In his youth, Bill wrote sports columns for the local newspaper. During his forty-year professional career he wrote technical manuals, magazine articles, and business newsletters. In retirement, writing about real-life issues became his passion. He is the author of four books and maintains a blog. He also writes op-ed columns and book reviews.

A proud and active member of the North Carolina Writers' Network, he lives the happy life of a retiree with his wife of fifty years, Donna.

To read more visit: www.ncwriters.org

Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of NC, to read, Sat., Aug. 8th, with poets Robert S. King and Rosemary Royston at the Murphy, NC, Public Library

Ridgeline Literary Alliance, in cooperation with the NC Poetry Society, invites the public to hear Shelby Stephanson, Poet Laureate of NC, on Saturday, August 8th, at 2:00 PM at the Murphy Public Library, 9 Blumenthal St., Murphy, NC.  Joining Shelby Stephenson in this free reading will be poets Robert S. King and Rosemary Royston.

Shelby Stephenson, the current Poet Laureate of North Carolina, was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame last year. Previously he won the 2001 North Carolina Award in Literature, and his book, Family Matters: Homage to July, the Slave Girl, won the 2008 Bellday Poetry Prize and the 2009 Oscar Arnold Young Award. He taught at UNC Pembroke, and edited an international literary journal for over thirty years. His ten chapbooks have won the 2001 North Carolina Award in Literature, the 2008 Bellday Poetry Prize, the 2009 Oscar Arnold Young Award, as well as the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Memorial Award, North Carolina Network Chapbook Prize, the Bright Hill Chapbook Award, and the Brockman-Campbell Poetry Prize.

Mr. Stephenson will be joined by two other distinguished poets, Robert S. King, and Rosemary Royston.

Robert S. King is the former president of the Georgia Poetry Society, editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Review, who has eight collections of his poetry published will also be reading. King has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net award, and is the founder of Ridgeline Literary Alliance. His poems have been published in hundreds of magazines. His latest books are Diary of the Last Person on Earth, 2014, and Developing a Photograph of God, also 2014.

Rosemary Royston, teaches English at Young Harris College where she is also Vice President for Planning and Assessment, is on the Board of Directors for the Byron Herbert Reece Society. She holds an MFA from Spalding University. Her poetry has been published in journals such as Appalachian Heritage, Southern Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Coal Hill Review, Flycatcher, Town Creek Review, and The Kentucky Review and on her blog The Luxury of Trees. Royston's book, Splitting the Soil, was published last year.

Both King and Royston have led writing workshops locally, and Royston served as 2015 Senior Games/SilverArts judge in the Literary Arts competitions.

Please bring your own poems to read at open mic, time depending, and celebrate poetry in Western North Carolina.

Henderson County Writers Group

WRITERS GROUP ON THE MOVE           

Beginning August 3, the Blue Ridge Writers Group will move to its new home at the Henderson County Parks and Recreation Athletics and Activity Center, 708 S Grove ST, Hendersonville, NC.

The group meets from 2:00 to 4:00 PM on the first and third Monday of each month. The group formerly met at Blue Ridge Community College.

Questions? Call Tom Hooker at 828-696-8430.

Write Your Own Biography with author Jack J. Prather

Write your own biography

program offered by Hendersonville, NC

Author Jack J. Prather

‘Write Your Own Biography’ is a new program offered by Jack J. Prather, author of two books of biographies: Twelve Notables of Western North Carolina (400-pages/134-photos) that was nominated for the NC Literary & Historical Association’s 2012 Ragan Award for Non-Fiction; and Six Notable Women of North Carolina (January 2015/238-pages/ 81-photos).

The new program allows participants to tell their life and career story, reveal their ‘core essence’, and preserve their legacy through a personal and fully edited biography written or co-written by Prather. He also provides advice and direction about getting a completed biography published.

Prather is a multiple award-winning writer and former journalist who authored five of his seven books and numerous freelance magazine articles since moving to Hendersonville from New Jersey via Virginia in 2005.

For details about what he considers a fun writing process, and for the affordable fee schedule, call 828-808-0660, or email prathergroup@aol.com. For more information and insight about Prather’s body of work, visit futurenowpublishing.com 

Jack J. Prather
prathergroup@aol.com
828-808-0660

www.futurenowpublishing.com

Valparaiso Fiction Review accepts story by Nancy Purcell

One of my dear friends and a member of Netwest for many years, is Nancy Purcell. She has been a devoted representative for Transylvania County throughout those years.

Today I am happy that one of her stories was accepted by Valparaiso Fiction Review. 

Nancy said she had submitted this story many, many times to other magazines, but she didn't give up. She believed in her story, The Unwrinkled Heart. It will be in their Winter 2015 issue. "I loved this story and put my heart in it and was determined for it to see print! There's a saying, It takes a lot of eyes before the right ones see your work." 

Guidelines for Valparaiso Fiction Review
Submissions to VFR should be original, unpublished fiction. Submissions should range from 1,000 to 9,000 words with possible exceptions. Please use 12 point font, double-space, and .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats. Please include name and email on the first page of each submission.

Please no novels, poetry (see VPR), or children's fiction unless otherwise noted. Excerpts from novels are acceptable only if selected piece operates as a stand-alone story.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author should notify VFR immediately should a submitted piece be accepted elsewhere. Response time for each submission is 3-4 months and will be sent electronically. Only stories submitted through VFR Submissions page will be considered. Please, no paper submissions.

There is no submission deadline. Submissions are considered on a rolling basis.

When VFR accepts a piece of fiction for publication, we are purchasing first-serial publication rights.

To submit fiction, one must setup a user account via Submissions.

For any additional questions, please contact one of the VFR editors, at vfr@valpo.edu.

For more information on submitting poetry, please visit our sister publication – Valparaiso Poetry

Congratulations to Nancy who lives in Brevard. She is a teacher and fiction writer with a number of publications under her belt. 

Michael Diebert, guest today, July 24, 4:30 PM, at: "Chat with a Poet" at Joe's Coffee House, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC

 Today Michael Diebert will read some of his poetry and enlighten us as to how he selects and edits poems for the Chattahoochee Review. Beginning poets will find his talk interesting and will be able to ask those questions you have been wondering about.

There will be some snacks furnished by Writers Circle and Joe's has great coffee and tea as well as a wine bar. There is no cost for the event, but Joe would like for you to pay for the coffee, tea or wine.

 

Michael will also teach a class on Saturday, July 25th, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Writers Circle in Hayesville, NC.  The class is called: "Re-purposing Your Poems: The Art and Craft of Poetic Salvage".  

 

Please contact Glenda Beall at: http://www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com/, if you are interested in attending this class.  There are still a couple of openings. 

 

Photos from Festival on the Square in Hayesville, NC

Deanna Klingel, Valerie Nieman, Joan Ellen Gage, Eva Mull Wike, Miriam Jones Bradley 

It was hot but we had fun and folks went home with books from our authors. NC Writers' Network West, a program of the North Carolina Writers' Network, sponsored this booth and volunteers staffed it both Saturday and Sunday. We handed out information about local events, registration for membership, and gave information about the Fall Conference in November in Asheville. We talked to people about NCWN, the state writers' group. www.ncwriters.org and gave away books twice each day of the festival. 

Val Nieman joins Joan Ellen Gage at the book table Sunday afternoon. 

Valerie Nieman, Joan Gage, and Glenda Beall 

NCWN-West at Festival on the Square

Our weekend at the Festival on the Square was delightful except for the high temperatures on Saturday. Deanna Klingel and Miriam Bradley drove down to Hayesville from Sapphire and from Hendersonville, NC. Both write books for children but have non-fiction books for adults as well. See their websites for more of their books. 

We all promote reading for children and it was heart-warming to see the kids visit Deanna and Miriam with their parents and then come back later with cash in hand to purchase the mystery series books from Miriam’s table or the Avery books from Deanna.

Deanna Klingel

Miriam Jones Bradley

Our many volunteers this year made it possible to have a booth at the Festival on the Square sponsored by the Clay County Historical and Arts Council. Deanna and Joan Gage carried tables and chairs and boxes as we loaded up Rob’s truck on Friday afternoon and set up our tent. I counted on Joan all weekend to help me and to be there when I could not.  She also presented her books of inspirational and motivating poetry for women. Water Running Down Hill, Empowering Your Inner Cheerleader and her most recent, A Redhead Looks at 60.

Joan Ellen Gage

Karen Holmes and Carole Thompson volunteered so that on Saturday and on Sunday we had someone at the main table to give out brochures, answer questions about NCWN and NCWN West, discuss writing with visitors and give them information about local literary events and places where they can receive instruction.

Carole Thompson author of Enough

Valeria Nieman visited with us Sunday afternoon with her new poetry book, Hotel Worthy and her very interesting novel, Blood Clay. We are always happy to see Val here in our neck of the woods.

I want to thank Don and Marti Long for their help on Sunday afternoon. Although we were tired by Sunday afternoon, I had fun with my two guests, Deanna and Miriam at my house for the weekend. It is always great to see so many local friends at the festival on a typical summer weekend in a small mountain town in the beautiful western NC mountains.