Writers and poets in the far western mountain area of North Carolina and bordering counties of South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee post announcements, original work and articles on the craft of writing.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Netwest Members offered discount on classes before deadline
Netwest members - take advantage of this opportunity to attend a workshop with well-published Atlanta author, Patricia Sprinkle.
Saturday, June 14 - Take individual classes, 10 - 1:00 and 2 - 5:00 p.m., or take both classes for $60. This writer speaks to large groups, teaches workshops and we are fortunate to have her come to our area. If you write fiction or nonfiction, you don't want to miss out on this one-time opportunity. We will have lunch together and you will have the opportunity to network with other writers and with Patricia.Each class fee is $45 or both classes for $60.00 Netwest members - $40 for individual classes.
Light lunch included for those who register for all day session
Deadline for registration: Thursday, June 11
Call 828-389-4441 or email glendabeall@msn.com
Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Literary Hour at JC Campbell Folk School
On Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, a monthly hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCCFS campus. The reading is free of charge and open to the public.
This month presents an exceptional opportunity to meet and listen to the featured readers, Nancy Simpson and Brenda Kay Ledford, whose poetry mostly centers around the mountains.
NANCY SIMPSON
Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems (Carolina Wren Press, 2010). She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a BS in education from Western Carolina University. She received a NC Arts Fellowship and co-founded NC Writers Network-West. For more than 30 years, young writers have known her as “beloved teacher.” Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner
and others. Her
poems have been included in anthologies, Word
and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and
Literary Trails
of N.C. (2008).
Her poems have also been featured in Southern
Appalachian Poetry, a
textbook anthology published at McFarland Press.
Nancy
lives in Hayesville, NC. Through 2010 she served as Resident Writer
at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Presently she teaches Poetry
Writing at the Institute for Continued Learning at Young Harris
College.
BRENDA
KAY LEDFORD
Brenda Kay Ledford is a
seventh generational native of Clay County, NC, and holds a Master of
Arts in Education from Western Carolina University.
She
writes about her heritage and has done post-graduate work in
Appalachian studies. Brenda received the Paul Green Multimedia Award
from North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her books,
collecting oral history, and blog, Historical Hayesville.
Her
work has appeared in Our
State, Carolina Country Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul,
Appalachian Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Journal of Kentucky
Studies, Asheville Poetry Review, Country Extra Magazine,
Blue
Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition Celebration, and
many other journals.
Finishing Line Press published Brenda’s award-winning poetry books: Shewbird Mountain, Sacred Fire, and Beckoning. She co-authored Simplicity with Blanche L. Ledford. These books are available at the John C. Campbell Folk School Craft Shop.
Coffee with the Poet and Writer, Estelle Rice
Estelle Rice, author of Quiet Times, a book of poetry, will be featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers on Wednesday, June 11, 10:30 a.m. at Blue Mountain Coffee and Grill.
Rice is a well-published writer whose short stories have appeared in The Appalachian Heritage Journal, the Journal of Kentucky Studies, and in anthologies and magazines, including Lights in the Mountains and Echoes Across the Blue Ridge.
She is a native North Carolinian, born in Rocky Mount and
raised in Charlotte. She now lives in Marble, NC. Estelle received her BA in
psychology from Queens University in Charlotte and a MA in counseling from the
University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama. She is a retired Licensed Professional
Counselor.
Although she is a full-time caregiver for her husband now,
she still attends writing workshops and continues to create poems and stories. Her
poetry has been published in The Back Porch, the Freeing Jonah series and
others.
Estelle has been a member of Netwest for as long as I have
known her, around twenty years. Her positive personality has always endeared
her to those who know her and is reflected in her poems such as the one below
from Quiet Times.
Silence
When I am silent,
thoughts surge onto the shore
of my consciousness.
There is no place to hide
or deny my fears.
Silence endures my frailties,
nudges me toward the paths
where I will meet myself.
Silence encourages me
to listen to the universe,
that I may hear
the songs of angels.
---Estelle Rice
Come out to Blue Mountain, on the corner of Hwy 141 and Hwy
64 near Murphy Medical Center, and hear Estelle’s reading as well as
participate in our regular open mic session. Stay for lunch. We pull the tables
together and enjoy a social hour. This event is sponsored by NCWN West and is open to the public. Contact
Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 or nightwriter0302@yahoo.com
for further information.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Untying the Knot is here... a book of poems by Karen Paul Holmes
Now Available
Untying the Knot by Karen Paul Holmes is a memoir in poetry about the end of a long marriage and the healing process.
“…
. About half the people who have ever been married would be eligible to
write on the subject but very few, if any others,
could with such grace, humor, self-awareness, and without a dollop of
self-pity, as Karen Paul Holmes has in Untying the Knot. This is a
courageous deeply human book.” –Thomas Lux
Published by Aldrich Press, a division of Kelsay Books.
Available from Amazon (search for "Karen Paul Holmes") or through the publisher/Amazon at
http://astore.amazon.com/
or order a personalized copy for $14, check or Paypal. Email kpaulholmesATgmail.com (replace AT with @) for details.
Karen
Paul Holmes grew up in Michigan and has an MA in music history from the
University of Michigan. She eventually moved to the warm south and worked her
way into a career that involved her love of writing: She became Vice
President-Marketing Communications at ING, a global financial services company.
After 20-some years in the corporate world, she now leads a gentler life as a
freelance writer and poet, mother of a smart adult daughter, and owner of two
naughty Welsh Terriers.
Karen
finds joy participating in poetry readings and supporting poetry through the
Side Door Poets group she founded/hosts in Atlanta and the Writers’ Night Out
she founded/hosts in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 2012, she received an
Elizabeth George Foundation emerging writer grant for poetry. Her poetry has
been published in a number of journals and anthologies, including Poetry East, Atlanta Review, Main Street
Rag, Caesura, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, American Society: What Poets
See (FutureCycle Press), and the Southern
Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia (Texas Review Press).
You
may contact her through her web site: www.simplycommunicated.com.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Meet Angela In a 28 Minute Video
Angela Leigh Tucker is the inspiring person whose recovery from a severe traumatic brain injury was the subject of Bill Ramsey's new book, "Me Now - Who Next?"
She is almost six years along and still making progress as this video will demonstrate: http://youtu.be/9EwgdcsP4bY.
Bill invites you to invest 28 minutes in order to meet her and to better understand how brain injuries change lives. For those wishing to know still more, the book is available on all e-readers and in paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com. The audio book, read by the talented professional voice of Scott Pollak, will be available soon. If you have never tried an audio book, consider starting with this one. Hearing Scott and Angela read it will take the story to the next level for you. Audio books can be enjoyed on your computer or any other device used to deliver entertainment. Amazon, Audible and iTunes will be offering it.
Bill has often said that Angela changed his life and she can do the same for you. Her determined fight to recover proves that there is always hope.
For information about his books: www.LifesWrite.com
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Lawrence Thackston Returns with a New Mystery
Lawrence Thackston, author of the locally set, The Devil’s Courthouse, will visit City Lights Bookstore to present his new mystery, Tidal Pools on Friday, June 6th at 6:30 p.m.
Making the most of incredible plot twists, dark settings, and the use of ancient religious rituals, Tidal Pools will keep readers on the edge of their seats through the final pages. In the Galeegi Islands along the coast of South Carolina, the former prime suspect in a 40-year-old, controversial murder case is found dead of a questionable suicide. Tyler Miles, a newly recruited patrolman with the Galeegi Police Department, becomes an unlikely part of the investigation and is immediately swept up in a tidal wave of violence and deceit that threatens to impact the entire Lowcountry. Working side-by-side with Chloe Hart, a research biologist for the EPA, Tyler must find a connection between the suicide and the old murder, all the while facing a new rash of killings and an imminent, destructive threat to the islands and the surrounding marshlands. From behind the screen doors of the island's most impoverished hovels to the marble floors and crystal chandeliers of its finest plantation homes, Tyler will race to unravel the mystery behind the chilling case. And, in his search for justice, he will come face to face with an evil as old as hatred itself, cryptically finding his answers only in what the tide leaves behind.
Born and raised in the palmetto state, Lawrence Thackston is a writer of Southern tales of mystery, suspense, loss, and redemption. His first novel, The Devil's Courthouse, was well-received by critics and has generated a faithful following among his readers. To reserve your copies of his books please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
COFFEE WITH THE POETS AND WRITERS
2014 updated schedule
Second Wednesday of each month,10:30 a.m. Blue Mountain Restaurant in Peachtree near Murphy Medical Hospital and Tri-County College in Cherokee, County, NC. You might take home one of the door prizes offered each month.
Stay for lunch when we pull the tables together and visit.
MARCH 12 Deanna Klingel
APRIL 9– Brenda Kay Ledford
MAY 14 -- Lucy Gratton
and Joan Howard
JUNE 11 – Estelle Rice
JULY 9 -- Glenda Beall
AUGUST 13 -- Staci
Bell and Linda Smith
SEPTEMBER 10 – Carole Thompson
OCTOBER 8 – Mary Mike Keller and Bob Grove
NOVEMBER 12 -- Karen Holmes – Paul Schofield
DECEMBER – open mic
and sign up for next year
Monday, May 19, 2014
Thanks to All Who Made the Writers Conference a Resounding Success
Our Writers Conference on May 10, 2014, at the historic Jackson County Courthouse Complex in Sylva was received with enthusiasm.
Many thanks to the volunteers and the faculty who worked together to make the day a success. Kathryn Byer for assembling the day's program. Joan Howard and Linda Smith for putting together the packets. J.C. Walkup for her diligence as our registrar. Glenda Beall for providing a delicious lunch, her sister Gay Moring and Lana Hendershott for helping with the clean-up. Paul M. Schofield for being our man Friday. Pat Davis for her willingness to help in any way. Vicki Lane for her inspiring Keynote Address. Gary Carden and Newton Smith for showing us how to use historical events as a basis for our writing. Catherine Reid and Susan Snowden for their stimulating workshops.
The attendees made the day really special. One of the comments I received tells me that we achieved our goal of supporting and inspiring the writers who attended: "... what a thrill it was to win an amazing door prize!... how exciting it is to have been invited to contribute to an anthology about the history of Western North Carolina, a region I have been researching for more than 25 years. The wonderful invitation to submit previously published poetry for Nancy Simpson's Living Above the Frost Line made my day. The most thrilling part of attending the NetWest Writers Conference is that I came away with renewed enthusiasm to write, write, write...thank you for a venue which, surprisingly, has rekindled my creative spark."
We also want to thank the library staff for their help, and City Lights Bookstore for facilitating the book sales and for hosting our reception. And last, but certainly not least, our thanks to those who completed the evaluation forms and provided us with valuable feedback for our next conference.
Many thanks to the volunteers and the faculty who worked together to make the day a success. Kathryn Byer for assembling the day's program. Joan Howard and Linda Smith for putting together the packets. J.C. Walkup for her diligence as our registrar. Glenda Beall for providing a delicious lunch, her sister Gay Moring and Lana Hendershott for helping with the clean-up. Paul M. Schofield for being our man Friday. Pat Davis for her willingness to help in any way. Vicki Lane for her inspiring Keynote Address. Gary Carden and Newton Smith for showing us how to use historical events as a basis for our writing. Catherine Reid and Susan Snowden for their stimulating workshops.
Not only have Nancy Simpson, NetWest founder, and Kathryn Stripling Byer, both well-known poets, worked diligently for NetWest for many years, but they started our afternoon off by sharing their insight on how to build a readership for their writing. Many, many thanks to both of them.
The attendees made the day really special. One of the comments I received tells me that we achieved our goal of supporting and inspiring the writers who attended: "... what a thrill it was to win an amazing door prize!... how exciting it is to have been invited to contribute to an anthology about the history of Western North Carolina, a region I have been researching for more than 25 years. The wonderful invitation to submit previously published poetry for Nancy Simpson's Living Above the Frost Line made my day. The most thrilling part of attending the NetWest Writers Conference is that I came away with renewed enthusiasm to write, write, write...thank you for a venue which, surprisingly, has rekindled my creative spark."
We also want to thank the library staff for their help, and City Lights Bookstore for facilitating the book sales and for hosting our reception. And last, but certainly not least, our thanks to those who completed the evaluation forms and provided us with valuable feedback for our next conference.
Kathryn Byer, Nancy Simpson and audience |
The lobby, book sales, workshop leader Catherine Reid and registrar J.C. Walkup |
Conference attendees browse through their book purchases |
A group enjoying their lunch and networking |
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