SAVE THIS DATE IN MAY 2017

A Day for Writers, one day conference sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network-West and the Jackson County Public Library.

When: Saturday, May 6, 2017, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Where:  Jackson County Public Library, 310 Keener St. Sylva, NC 28779

Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, YA and Children's Writing, Marketing and Publishing, something for all writers. 

Presenters include: Terry Kay, novelist and short story writer, Catherine Carter, Poet, Tara Lynne Groth, freelance writer and journalist, Deanna Klingel, author of YA and children's books, Glenda C. Beall, poet, writer and teacher, and Gary Carden, playwright, storyteller and author. 

Terry Kay

We held such an event in 2014 that was highly praised and well-attended. The Jackson County Public Library with the meeting space in the beautiful old Courthouse, is a perfect place, centrally located for those who live in the NCWN-West Region. 

Watch this site for a list of more presenters. 

Writers--what we are doing now

With everyone thinking about Christmas and shopping, we writers often put our wordsmithing on the back burner. In my area, we stop most of our writing events until spring warms us up. Coffee with the Poets and Writers in Hayesville, NC starts anew March 16, Moss Memorial Library at 10:30 a.m.

Writers Night Out is cancelled until spring also. Karen Holmes, who does such a great job with this event, will notify us when that popular gathering for writers will begin in 2017.

The NCWN-West Poetry Critique group continues to meet each month. See the events page on this site to see how to contact Janice Moore, facilitator for the group which meets at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC.

The Prose Critique group that meets at TCCC has gone on hiatus until spring.

A DAY FOR WRITERS

The big news for our region is, A Day for Writers,  the conference on Saturday, May 6, 2017 at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva, NC. Several presenters are on board, but you will hear more after Christmas. Mark the date on your calendar now.

Brenda Kay Ledford Received Paul Green Award

Brenda Kay Ledford received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her blog:  Blue Ridge Poet.


NCSH held their Diamond Jubilee Celebration and Award Luncheon November 5, 2016 at the Stone Center in North Wilkesboro, NC.


For information:  www.ncsocietyofhistorians.org
                            http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com

Last Writers' Night of the Year, Nov. 11, Blairsville, GA

Newton Smith featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers in Hayesville, NC

Coffee with the Poets and Writers meets Wednesday, November 16, 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. 

 

This month Dr. Newton Smith  retired professor at Western Carolina University will share his experience of walking El Camino de Santiago, the 500 mile pilgrimage in Europe. Smith wrote a poem a day reflecting on the physical body, nature, and the spiritual as he traversed the Way.

His book is Camino Poems—Reflectionson on the Way. "Because it was autumn, many days I gleaned blackberries, grapes, apples, figs, peaches and other fruit and chestnuts along the way. It meant that my attention was focused on the abundance of this earth instead of on my narrow self and its minor concerns. My attention often fell on butterflies, snails, ant hills and the abundance of rocks,” Smith said.

Poetry has been an essential part of Newton Smith’s life for more than fifty years. Wanting to write poems was what motivated him to leave Georgia Tech and major in English at UNC Chapel Hill. After a three-year tour in the Army as a Russian linguist, he returned to UNC for his Ph.D. 

In graduate school he was one of the founding editors along with Russell Banks and William Matthews of Lillabulero Magazine and Lillabulero Press, then one of the significant publications of the small press movement. His dissertation was The Origin of the Black Mountain Poets, one of the earliest studies of that movement. 

He has taught poetry to a wide range of writers, from second grade to retirees as well as undergraduates and graduate students. He has published widely in literary magazines beginning in the 1970’s, including Southern Poetry Review, Carolina Quarterly, Ann Arbor Review and others. His most recent poetry publications are in the Asheville Poetry eview, Rivendale, Main Street Rag, Pisgah Review, and Jonah. 

Bring a couple of original poems or a short prose piece for open mic which is a special part of the event. You will find a receptive audience. Join the group for lunch at Angelo’s on the square.

Reading at the John C. Campbell Folk School November 16 - Beall and Bell

Glenda Council Beall and Staci Lynn Bell will read their work at the John C. Campbell Folk School on Wednesday evening, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Keith House Library. No admission charge and the public is invited.

Glenda Council Beall

Glenda Beall has been writing for as long as she can remember. She wrote stories about horses when she was a child. She began writing poetry in high school after a teacher suggested she submit one of her poems to a magazine.

In 1996, after moving to Hayesville, NC, she became a student of Nancy Simpson, poet, at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Since that time she has published many poems in numerous journals and reviews, both traditional and online. Her poems have also been published in a number of anthologies.

She is a multi-genre writer and has published nonfiction and fiction in Reunion Magazine, Breath and Shadow, Living with Loss and in several online journals. Some links to her published work can be found on a page of her blog: www.profilesandpedigrees.blogger.com  

Glenda Beall is owner of Writers Circle around the Table, where she invites outstanding poets and writers to teach at her studio. She teaches memoir writing for senior adults at Tri-County Community College in Murphy, NC and at Writers Circle.

She served as Program Coordinator for North Carolina Writers' Network West in 2007 - 2009 and serves as a Clay County Representative for the organization now. She is also volunteer Coordinator of the Representatives of NCWN West.

Staci Lynn Bell with Echo

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 been published in Wild Goose Poetry, Wolf Warriors Anthology,and 234 Journal. Her poem "Crayon Cardinals" was recently published in The Old Mountain Press "Yin Yang"anthology. She lives with the loves of her life, her two dogs, in Hayesville, NC.

Bell's poem, "Escape" has been published in Old Mountain Press Anthology, Wish You Were Here. Her poem, "Unanswered Prayers" has been accepted for publication in the fall edition of Kakalak 2016 and will go to press soon. Additionally, Bell's poem, "Time," won a bronze medal and her short story, "Cheyenne" won a silver medal in the North Carolina Cherokee and Clay County Silver Arts 2016.

Billy Collins at Malaprop's

Attention poets,
Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate, will read from and sign his most recent collection of poems, The Rain in Portugal, at Malaprop's Bookstore Cafe in Asheville, NC.
The event is free and  open to  the public.
Thursday, November 10, 5:00 p.m..

Billy Collins is entertaining when he reads. My husband decided he  did like poetry after hearing Billy Collins read at Young Harris College.

Contact Virginia McKinley for more information.

Virginia McKinley

Community Outreach

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

55 Haywood Street

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 254-6734

www.malaprops.com

virginia@malaprops.com

Third place winner of Flash Fiction contest

What Bugs Me!

By Tom Davis

Recently my daughter, Dixie the vegetarian, introduced me to the garbanzo bean. Not impressed.

My wife Molly declares Dixie takes after me. If something’s good for her, it’s gotta be good for everybody. Soon after her vegetarian transformation, she started bugging me. “Dad,” she would say, “I can’t believe you put that stuff in your stomach. Do you know how long it just sits there fermenting?” Or, “Dad I can hear your arteries slamming shut as you shovel that junk in.”

To shut her up, I tried eating better. With the exception of an occasional Mac Attack and a periodic close encounter with The Barbecue Hut, my behavior proved impressive.

At least, I did pretty well until Dixie stumbled upon a recipe for garbanzo bean soup. I’ve got several problems with the garbanzo bean.

No matter how long you boil one, it’s still crunchy. This may not seem like much, but I like crunchy cereal, not crunchy soup!

A Garbanzo bean doesn’t even look like a regular bean. Take your basic lima. Now there’s a bean-looking bean—kinda fat and oval-shaped. It lies there, begging you to eat it with corn bread. The garbanzo is round like a marble. When you drop a spoon full of these babies on your plate, they roll in all directions.

Finally, and most important, there’s the garbanzo’s taste. There isn’t any—at least not to me.

I’ve stated my position and have suffered rebuke and humiliation. Any opinion contrary to Dixie’s invariably draws inquires into the questioner’s mental status. Did I mention Molly says Dixie takes after me?

Oh, well, what the heck? I’m used to getting no respect around here. After all, what should a man expect who stares down into his soup bowl and gets mooned by a bean.

Newt Smith reads from Camino Poems, his poetry book that rates high praise.

Ron Rash said of Camino Poems--Reflections on the Way “In this superb collection, Newt Smith’s spiritual journey is rendered with such attentiveness and fidelity that we become his fellow travelers. We too share the pain and effort but above all the wonder, and are reminded that in matters of the spirit the journey and destination can be one.”

I am delighted to post about Newton Smith's new poetry book, Camino Poems. Newt has served as our trustworthy NCWN-West Treasurer since 2009. You might not know him, but he is always there behind the scenes taking care of our finances. I am delighted to learn more of Newt's history in his bio for this book.  

**************************************************************

Poetry has been an essential part of Newton Smith’s life for more than fifty years. Wanting to write poems was what motivated him to leave Georgia Tech and major in English at UNC Chapel Hill. After a three-year tour in the Army as a Russian linguist, he returned to UNC for his Ph.D. 

In graduate school he was one of the founding editors along with Russell Banks and William Matthews of Lillabulero Magazine and Lillabulero Press, then one of the significant publications of the small press movement. His dissertation was The Origin of the Black Mountain Poets, one of the earliest studies of that movement. 

He began teaching at WesternCarolina University with a focus on creative writing, contemporary poetry, modern fiction and American literature. He has taught poetry to a wide range of writers, from second grade to retirees as well as undergraduates and graduate students. His academic publications focused on the Black Mountain poets, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Robert Morgan, Fred Chappell, Jim Wayne Miller, William Matthews, Russell Banks, Ron Rash and others. 

He has published widely in literary magazines beginning in the 1970’s, including Southern Poetry Review, Carolina Quarterly, Ann Arbor Review and others. His most recent poetry publications are in the Asheville Poetry Review, Rivendale, Main Street Rag, Pisgah Review, and Jonah. 

Since retiring Newt Smith has had time to devote to travel, gardening, Buddhist studies, mindfulness practices, and hiking in nature, especially in the Smoky Mountains. During his 2014 pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago he wrote a poem everyday reflecting on the physical body, nature, and the spiritual as he walked along the Way.

Newt said about the pilgrimage, "Because it was autumn, many days I gleaned blackberries, grapes, apples, figs, peaches and other fruit and chestnuts along the way. It meant that my attention was focused on the abundance of this earth instead of on my narrow self and its minor concerns. My attention often fell on butterflies, snails, ant hills and the abundance of rocks."

Kathryn Stripling Byer says of Camino Poems, "What are these lines from "Bowing to the Sun" but prayer itself? "The day began with smells...the deep aroma of turned earth,/and then the allure of blackberries....Soon I want to taste everything:/rosehips, flowers, thistle,/even the pebbles at my feet." The blessing of absolute attention carries this pilgrim through every step of his journey, each poem inviting us to walk with him in faith and love."

"Part of the Camino traverses the part of Spain called the Meseta, high plains area dominated by vast fields of wheat. Here emptiness and silence became an opening, a recognition that we are held in a space that extends beyond all we can imagine. The expansiveness and abundance of this life were frequent subjects of these poems as they were for earlier pilgrims who walked from churches to cathedrals to Santiago and beyond to Finisterre," Newt recalled.  

 Emptiness

Ledigos toTerradillos de los Templarios

Here on the Meseta

the land stretches

in every direction

beyond the horizon.

Objects are swallowed up

in this vista.

What is most apparent 

is space 

and how it persists....

This flower

this stone

this hand that writes

all are held 

in this emptiness. 

 ***************************************************************

I learned about El Camino Santiago from my friend, Rebecca Gallo, who has walked the Way more than once. Now I read Newt's poetry and feel I am on the pilgrimage with him. Hear him speak and read from his book at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC on Friday, November 4, 6:30 p.m.

To reserve copies of Camino Poems, please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499.

Event date: 

Friday, November 4, 2016 - 6:30pm

Event address: 

3 East Jackson St.

Sylva, NC 28779

Fall Conference Pre-Registration Deadline is October 28

Fall Conference happens November 4-6 at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley.  Registration is now open at www.ncwriters.org;  pre-registration ends Friday, October 28.

With some 200 writers in attendance, as well as dozens of faculty and publishing professionals, the North Carolina Writers’ Network 2016 Fall Conference is the largest writing conference in the state and one of the biggest and most inclusive in the country. It’s a great chance for writers to network, but more importantly, it’s a chance for beginners and bestselling authors alike to focus on writing for an entire weekend and quickly improve their craft.
2016 North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Margaret Maron, of

Willow Springs, will give the Keynote Address.

Maron is the five-time Agatha Award-winning mystery writer of the Deborah Knott series, which is set in Johnston County. In 2015, she was given a lifetime achievement award by Bouchercon, the world mystery convention.

Saturday’s luncheon will feature three authors from UNC Press’ Savor the South series: Debbie Moose, Bridgette A. Lacy, and John Shelton Reed. They’ll talk about how good food writing is about so much more than just food.

2014 North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee and current NC poet laureate Shelby Stephenson will be the featured guest at Saturday night’s banquet. He’ll talk about writing, read some poetry, and most likely strum a little bit on his guitar.

Program offerings include the second annual All Stories Connect panel discussion. This year’s theme is “A Conversation about Culture” with Shervon Cassim, Sheila Smith McKoy, Donna Miscolta, and Elaine Neil Orr. Sunday morning will once again feature the popular Brilliant at Breakfast panel discussion “Agents and Editors,” featuring Michelle Brower of Zachary Shuster Harmsworth; Robin Miura, editor of Carolina Wren Press; Emma Patterson of Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc.; and Kathy Pories, Senior Editor at Algonquin Books.

Poetry classes include “Image and Narrative” with Guggenheim and NEA fellow Joseph Millar; “Writing Haiku” with Lenard D. Moore, recipient of the 2014 NC Award for Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor; and “The Furniture of the Poem: The Space of the Page and How We Fill It” with Chris Tonelli, poet and owner of Raleigh’s So & So Bookstore.

Fiction writers will choose from a full slate of class offerings including “Minute Particulars” with Raleigh’s Kim Church, whose debut novel Byrd won the Crook’s Corner Book Prize for best debut novel set in the South; “Ending Well: Short Story Endings and Their Lessons” with Clare Beams, author of the forthcoming short-story collection We Show What We Have Learned (Lookout Books, 2016). Poet, playwright, and arts educator Howard L. Craft will teach “Developing Authentic Dialog”; and Art Taylor, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, will teach “Sharp, Succinct & Suspenseful: Crafting the Mystery Story.”

Other classes focus on some aspect of the publishing industry. Poet, NCWN trustee, and NCWN regional rep for Wake County, Alice Osborn, will teach “How to be a Rock Star at PR”; the Triangle Association of Freelancers will lead the panel discussion on “Freelance Writing 101”; intellectual property attorney Mitch Tuchman will talk to writers about “Copyright Infringement”; Ross White, poet and founder/publisher of Bull City Press, will lead “Grammar Gone Wild”; and Kim Church and Emma Patterson will chat about “How to Work with an Agent.”

Additional offerings will appeal to authors who write across genres: award-winning Young Adult and New Adult author Jen McConnel will ask “YA/NA: What’s the Big Deal?”; Zelda Lockhart, founder of LaVenson Press Studios, will guide attendees through “The Relationship Museum”; award-winning writer and folklorist Eleanora E. Tate will lead a class on children’s writing; and sci-fi writer Ian J. Malone will teach a class called “Beyond Vanity: How Indie Publishing Builds Professional Writers.”

2016 Fall Conference sponsors include March Graham, author of Ashes and Dust; Chatham-Lee Counties NCWN regional rep Al Manning; the North Carolina Museum of History; Alice Osborn: Editor/Book Coach/Author; The 2017 Piedmont Laureate Program; the University of North Carolina Press; and the North Carolina Arts Council.

For more information, and to register, visit www.ncwriters.org.
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Contact: Charles Fiore, Communications Director, North Carolina Writers' Network, Charles@ncwriters.org