Ricketson's New Poetry Book + Leith's Prize-Winning Stories

Writers' Night Out, August 9

Join us for two local favorites plus open mic.


Mary Ricketson will be reading from her new collection, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian (Kelsay Books) She has poetry published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Future Cycle Press, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, Red Fox Run, It’s All Relative, Old Mountain Press, Whispers, Voices, and her chapbook I Hear the River Call my Name. She also has two other full length collections, Hanging Dog Creek and Shade and Shelter. 



--> Loren Leith is the author of MOSQ by Shepherd Graham (pen name), winner of the Silver Royal Palm Literary Award and the Pascoe Award for Best Thriller of 2011.  In 2018, she won first place in the RPLA competition for her nonfiction short story, Basement Level. She also received an award for her short, nonfiction story, My Box Top Cat from God, and two of her other stories are finalists in a national competition. 
Open Mic: Sign up at the door to read 3 minutes of poetry or prose. 

more info about Union County Community Center 

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Netwest at the Coffee House in Hayesville - a writer's evening, for sure.

We had a great time at The Corner Coffee and Wine Shop in Hayesville, NC last evening. In spite of a concert on the square, Brent Martin NCWN-West Rep from Franklin, NC and Ben Cutler, NCWN-West Rep from Swain County impressed a room full of writers and story-tellers with their poems and essays. We all enjoyed getting to know both of these fine, award-winning writers.

An Open Mic session was held and five people read poems, stories, or told a story.

We gave away two door prizes which we do also at Coffee with the Poets and Writers. None of the winners were members. We hope they will come back to other events held by NCWN-West.

Glenda Beall, Brent Martin and Ben Cutler

Joan Howard reads a poem at the Corner Coffee Shop where NCWN-West held a reading on Friday night, July 26. In front row are Mary Ricketson, Bob Grove and Don Long, members of NCWN-West. 

This was a well-received event and I hope, if we do this again in this venue, we will have more members participate. Wine and Coffee are available for purchase here. We can bring in food if we want. I like this venue and so do others I have heard from. 

You Want to Be Here - Brent Martin and Ben Cutler at the Corner Coffee and Wine Shop Friday evening, 6:30 PM - Hayesville, NC

Review by Lawrence Holden
  of Brent Martin's poetry.

An old woman watches television in "her beat up house trailer/ the home old man Passmore built / next door sinking into the weeds" as the poet wanders her winter fields looking for pot shards - remnants of a lost past. In town a homeless man sells weeds, bouquets of common clover he's pulled from cracks in the sidewalk, holding out a bouquet "so delicately he could be holding a baby," saying "this one is called Everyday People."

Walking old Indian mounds, two friends recite together Robinson Jeffers' defiant poem "Shine, Perishing Republic," "his hand slapping my back for emphasis, / where water now flows in rivulets / down upon the abandoned rail lines..." Such poems take us lovingly to a place most of us already know within ourselves - the place where we struggle to come to terms with circumstances of loss, impending change, a world in the harsh throes of modernity, and yet, unaccountably, still nascent with hope.

Downriver

by Brent Martin

The Ferryman tells me to fish downriver,
the crusty bastard, standing on his porch
cursing everything upstream.

He curses the town a while,
then he curses its conservative
church going citizens,

and as he is waving like the Queen
as I depart in my little red boat,
he tells me that Jimmy Sang

has been catching redeyes in the evening,
smallmouth in the afternoon.

You gotta Fish them v's though, the spot where the water
funnels through them old fish weirs.

Old angry and happy ferryman
with your bright river rolling on
birthing your final somber days.

Downriver, he says again, downriver.
Fish them v's and to hell with upstream.

Brent Martin & Benjamin Cutler to read 7/26/2019, Hayesville, NC at 6:30 PM, at the Corner Coffee and Wine Shop

Diane Lockward of Terrapin Books says:

I'm happy to tell you that A Constellation of Kisses is almost here! I could not be happier with this anthology. So many wonderful poets and poems. The official release date is July 15, but the book is available now for pre-order at Amazon where it's discounted at 30%. By the way, in case you've ever wondered, Amazon sets discounts, not the publisher. Amazon may drop or change the discount at any time, but the pre-order discount is guaranteed.

Please keep in mind that Terrapin Books will be open for submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts from August 1 thru August 31. I look forward to reading some wonderful collections. Mark your calendar. And of course, read the Guidelines.

Diane

Author P.C. Zick Featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

           

Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature best-selling author P.C. Zick on Wednesday, July 17, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. The event is free and open to the public. 

An open mic will follow her presentation. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Ms. Zick writes in a variety of genres, including romance, contemporary fiction, and creative nonfiction. She's won various awards for her essays, columns, editorials, articles, and fiction. Her novels range from environmental sagas set in Florida to contemporary romances with a variety of backdrops from Florida to Chicago to Long Island to the mountains of North Carolina. Her nonfiction writing includes books on gardening, travel, and writing.

 She wrote the four novels in her Smoky Mountain Romance series after moving to Murphy, North Carolina, several years ago. Drawing on the mountain view from her cabin, she fashioned a community of people who find hope and love in southwestern North Carolina. Strangers become friends and friends become family in the fictional town of Laurel. Local readers will easily recognize the landmarks in and around Cherokee and Clay counties.

With strong characters, inspiring settings, and surprising plot twists, Ms. Zick imparts her love of family and nature in all her writings. She and her husband enjoy gardening, kayaking, golfing, and exploring waterfalls and mountain vistas throughout western North Carolina. It all serves as her inspiration for creating stories that express her philosophy of living lightly upon this earth with love, laughter, and passion.

            For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall: glendabeall@msn.com.

Memoirist & Poet at Writers' Night Out, July 12

 Reading + Open Mic in Blairsville GA

“I know I was a male Chauvinist pig in a past life, 

and they made me come back as a woman in corporate America.” 

- Victoria Barkan in The Monkeys Rule

Writers' Night Out

Friday, July 12

7 pm 

reading followed by open mic

Featured Readers:

Local poet, actor, student Ryvers Stewart

Atlanta author Victoria Barkan 

Union County Community Center 

Blairsville, GA.

Victoria Barkan will read from her new memoir The Monkeys Rule, which covers her successes as well as the discrimination she faced in her 20-year career in the burgeoning, then booming, cable TV industry. Her story continues with her spiritual journey that helped her recover from the ordeal.

Barkan’s long career included 11 years at Cox Communications where she became Director of Marketing Operations. She also travelled the globe extensively as Cox’s consultant to Southwestern Bell in the UK. She is now writing her second book and also focusing on her art, with paintings in an upcoming art show in Alpharetta, GA. She has a BS in art education from Bowling Green University and painted the artwork on her current book’s cover.

Ryvers Stewart hails from Murphy, NC. She has written poetry since middle school, but in high school truly fell in love with it, as well as with acting. She is working on her Associates in Fine Arts degree at Tri-County Community College with graduation on track for 2020. Stewart is also an actress who performs locally. On the weekends she can be found participating in the roleplaying games, D&D and Pathfinder. She is currently working on her first poetry book.

Writers’ Night Out takes place on the second Friday of every month through November. Anyone wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read three minutes of poetry or prose.

The Union County Community Center is located at Butternut Creek Golf Course at 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092. Food and drinks are available for purchase in The View Grill, but please arrive by 5:30 pm to get served.