Photos from NCWN-West's booth at the Festival on the Square, Hayesville, NC, July 2016

North Carolina Writers' Network West's booth at the Festival on the Square, Hayesville, North Carolina hosted poet and writer attendees including: Tom and Polly Davis, Glenda Council Beall, Mary Ricketson, Rosemary Royston, Marcia Hawley Barnes, Joan M. Howard, Lucy Cole Gratton, Janice Townley Moore, Staci Lynn Bell,Bob Grove, and Joan Ellen Gage. Below are some photos of the event.

Rosemary Royston

Glenda Council Beall

Bob Grove and Lucy Cole Gratton

Glenda Council Beall, Bob Grove, Lucy Cole Gratton, Janice Townley Moore, and Lucy Rozier. Hidden is Joan M. Howard

Tom Davis and Janice Townley Moore

Marcia Hawley Barnes

Staci Lynn Bell has poetry published in an Old Mountain Press anthology, won medals for poetry and prose, and has a poem accepted in the Fall issue of Kakalak

Local poet Staci Lynn Bell's poem, "Escape" has been published in Old Mountain Press Anthology, Wish You Were Here. Staci's  poem, "Unanswered Prayers" has been accepted for publication in the fall edition of. Kakalak 2016.
 
Additionally, Bell's poem, "Time," won a bronze medal and her short story, "Cheyenne" won a silver medal in the NC Cherokee and Clay County's Silver Arts 2016. 

Staci Lynn Bell is a Chicago native who attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She relocated to South Florida, gaining popularity as a 25 year radio and television personality. Bell’s poetry and prose have also been published in Wild Goose Poetry, Wolf Warriors Anthology,and 234 Journal. She lives with the loves of her life, her two dogs, in Hayesville, NC.

Poet Maren O. Mitchell has poem published in Spring 2016 issue of Town Creek Poetry, an online journal

Local poet Maren O. Mitchell has had her poem, "Shelters", published in the Spring 2016 issue of Town Creek Poetry. Town Creek Poetry is an online poetry journal which is published every spring and fall. That link is here:

http://www.towncreekpoetry.com/SPR16/MITCHELL_SHELTERS.html

Mitchell's poems have appeared in Iodine Poetry Journal, The Lake (UK), Appalachian Heritage, The South Carolina Review, Hotel Amerika, Southern Humanities Review, Town Creek Poetry, Skive (AU), The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Appalachian Journal, The Arts Journal, The Southern Poetry Anthologies, V: Georgia & VII: North Carolina, Sunrise from Blue Thunder and elsewhere. Work is forthcoming in Hotel Amerika, The World Is Charged: Poetic Engagements with Gerard Manley Hopkins, Chiron Review, Poetry East, The Crafty Poet II, Tar River Poetry and Poem. 

Mitchell lives with her husband in the mountains of Georgia.


Town Creek Poetry 

http://www.lineofsightpress.com/

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Line-of-Sight-Press/372089309551417

Local poets and writers to read at Hayesville's Festival on the Square this weekend, July 9th and 10th, 2016

This weekend, Hayesville, North Carolina will offer their annual Festival on the Square.The festival begins Friday evening, July 8th, with a street dance. Music and many vendors will grace the square on Saturday and Sunday, July 9th and 10th. Included in this event will be our North Carolina Writers' Network-West booth, which will be on the North side of the square.

Several local poets and writers, members of NCWN-West, will be attending the booth, and will read periodically from their published works. Included in this line-up, are Tom Davis, Joan Ellen Gage, Mary Rickertson, Rosemary Royston, Marcia Barnes, Glenda C. Beall, Joan M. Howard, Bob Grove, and Lucy  Cole Gratton.

During the day, the booth will have books to give away. Please make an effort to come by and support the wonderful members, who are taking time to showcase our writers' network.


http://www.clayhistoryarts.org/
http://festivalnet.com/43539/Hayesville-North-Carolina/Festivals/Festival-on-the-Square

Local poet Joan M. Howard to have two poems published in the next issue of The Wayfarer, a literary magazine.

Local poet Joan M. Howard has two poems, "My Neighbor" and "The Chosen Range" accepted in the next issue of The Wayfarer, a literary magazine available online, and in print.

Joan M. Howard lives near the beautiful waters of Lake Chatuge in Georgia. The serenity of her surroundings inspires much of her poetry. Her interests include kayaking, birding and boating. 

Joan M. Howard's poetry has appeared in the Aurorean, Lucid Rhythms, The Road Not Taken:The Journal of Formal Poetry, The Deronda Review, Victorian Violet Press, Wild Goose Poetry Review, The Reach of Song 2012 poetry anthology (Georgia Poetry Society), POEM, Miller's Pond, Eclectic Muse,The Lyric and other journals.

You can access The Wayfarer, here: http://thewayfarer.homeboundpublications.com/magazine/the-print-and-eedition/

Something a Little Different at Writers' Night, July 8

Royston and Holmes to do "Call & Response" Poetry Reading, Blairsville, GA

Back by popular demand, the duo of Rosemary Royston and Karen Paul Holmes plan to once again pair up their poems and alternate their reading, rather than one poet reading all her poems followed by the other.

This month's Writers’ Night Out is on Friday, July 8. The 7 p.m. reading will be followed by an open microphone for those who’d like to share their own work. The event is free and open to the public at the Union CountyCommunity Center in the heart of Blairsville, GA. If you'd like to purchase food or drink at The View Grill, please come by 6 p.m. (the food is good but service can be slow).

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem published

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "The Greatest," was published in "The Skinny Poetry Journal," online, June 2016 issue.


https://theskinnypoetryjournal.wordpress.com

The Blue Ridge Bookfest 2016 featured author Sara Gruen; you can watch her interview with Bill Ramsy, here.

Sara Gruen is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of At the Water’s Edge, Water for Elephants, Ape House, Riding Lessons, and Flying Changes. Her works have been translated into forty-three languages, and have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. Water for Elephants was adapted into a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon, Rob Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz in 2011.

She lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and three sons, along with their dogs, cats, horses, birds, and the world’s fussiest goat.

Sara was the featured author at the 2016 Blue Ridge Bookfest. You can watch her video where she was interviewed by Bill Ramsey, who is on the board of North Carolina Writers' Network, here:

Nancy Simpson's poem "Lingering at the Edge," published in Kudzu Literary Magazine's 2016 publication, "Women in Appalachia"

Poet Nancy Simpson has had a poem published in Kudzu Literary Magazine's 2016 issue. The theme of this year's magazine was Women in Appalachia. Simpson's poem was Lingering at the Edge.

Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student and Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems published at Carolina Wren Press. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a B.S. in Education from Western Carolina University. She received a N.C. Arts Fellowship and co founded NC Writers Network-West, a non profit, professional writing organization serving writers living in the remote mountains west of Asheville. For more than thirty years she has been known as “beloved teacher” to thousands of young writers.

Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and in other literary magazines. Her poem, “Night Student” was reprinted in the anthology Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry and in Literary Trails of North Carolina. Seven of her poems are featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press. The Southern Poetry Review, Armstrong College in Savannah, Georgia included one of her poems in their 50^th Anniversary issue, Don't Leave Hungry and a new poem in their recent issue featuring Georgia poets. Her poem “Carolina Bluebirds” was included in The Poets Guide to Birds, an anthology edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser, and her poem “Pink Pantsuit” was featured recently in Ted Kooser’s widely read “American Life in Poetry” newspaper column.

http://hazard.kctcs.edu/en/Student_Life/Kudzu.aspx
https://kudzu.submittable.com/submit

Authors' Fair in Murphy, NC on Saturday, June 25, 2016, to feature local writers Wally Avett, Amanda Beavers, Roy Pipes, and Ann Miller Woodford

Authors Fair Saturday, June 25th, 2016 Features Four Local Writers

Four local authors will present their books Saturday, June 25, in the Fellowship Hall of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Murphy. The Authors' Fair will be held from 10 a.m. until 12 Noon, free admission, free refreshments, all readers cordially invited. 

Writers scheduled to appear are Wally Avett, Amanda Beavers,Roy Pipes, and Ann Miller Woodford. Their titles include both fiction and non-fiction. Authors will be available to sign their books after short individual presentations on their respective works.

Wally Avett writes the HILLBILLY RANGER column for the CHEROKEE SCOUT, where he was editor during the 1970’s. His four books are fiction, inspired by true stories from countless interviews here in the mountains.

Amanda Beavers,daughter of a local pastor, wrote a heartfelt memoir of the months of anguish she and her family endured after her father was nearly killed by a drunken driver.

Roy Pipes, former Superintendent of Schools for Cherokee County, in retirement has proved to be a prolific writer. He currently has five novels in print and two more awaiting publication.

Ann Miller Woodford, native of Andrews, has written a scholarly 600-plus page history of the black communities in Andrews,Murphy and Hayesville. The late Purel Miller, her father, was a noted oral historian and her best source.

For more information, contact Wally Avett at: 

wallyavett@gmail.com