Saturday, June 24, 2017

Marcia Hawley Barnes receives the Georgia Author of the Year Award in Childrens Books, for 2016


Image result


Marcia Hawley Barnes, a writer and member of the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, has received the Georgia Author of the Year Award in Childrens Books, for her book Tobijah. Barnes received the award on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at the 53rd Annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards. Her book, Tobijah, placed first in the children's category. There were 126 nominees in 14 categories, and over 230 authors and literary enthusiasts attended the banquet and ceremony. Published by Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, Marcia's heart warming story of friendship was illustrated by Doreyl Ammons Cain. You can find Marcia's book at: CSABookscom.

Tobijah is a delightful story emphasizing that even though many of us are different, we are not alone. The story holds the attention of young readers as Tobijah, a duck, tries to find a friend. This story is well written with the young reader in mind. It teaches through the story that helping and encouraging others can be a rewarding experience. Children can relate to the characters, and the story moves along emerging in a satisfactory outcome. Taking young readers on journey, an exploration of life, it entertains and holds their attention. Tobijah has memorable characters, an engaging plot, and is fun to read.”
Born in Tacoma, Washington, Marcia Hawley Barnes' early life was in sight of the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. She studied liberal arts at the University of Puget Sound, and design at the University of Houston, and received a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art from the University of South Florida. Further studies in Spanish and French languages were at Hillsborough Community College, University of Tampa, Macon State College, and Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia. In 2014, she earned a Doctor of Christian Theology degree from the International Miracle Institute, Pensacola, Florida. Barnes lives and writes in the North Georgia Mountains.

Here is a video that Barnes' son make for her about the book, Tobijah:




Friday, June 23, 2017

Interview with Rosemary Rhodes Royston on Writers Digest by Robert Brewer


Please access this interview with Rosemary Rhodes Royston on Writers Digest by Robert Brewer:

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/rosemary-rhodes-royston-poet-interview

Rosemary is a long time member of NCWN and NCWN West and served as Program Coordinator a few years back. She holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University and is a lecturer at Young Harris College, Georgia.


Royston’s poetry has been published in journals such as The Southern Poetry Review, The Comstock Review, Main Street
Rag, Coal Hill Review, FutureCycle, STILL, New Southerner, and Alehouse. She has a chapbook, Splitting the Soil, published by Finishing Line Press.
Her essays on writing poetry are included in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets, McFarland. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she was the recipient of the 2010 Literal Latte Food Verse Award. Most recently, she received Honorable Mention in the George Scarbrough Poetry Contest, Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, along with her short fiction being selected as Honorable Mention in the Porter Fleming Literary Awards, 2012. She blogs at The Luxury of Trees.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Coffee with the Poets and Writers features writers Staci Lynn Bell and Joan M. Howard on June 21, 2017, 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC



Coffee with the Poets and Writers will meet June 21, 2017, 10:30 AM at Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC. Staci Lynn Bell and Joan Howard will be featured members this month. 

Staci Lynn Bell, a Chicago native, has lived in Western North Carolina for the past 6 years. Having moved many times as a child, her best friends were her imagination, books and animals. Staci attended University of Wisconsin, Madison majoring in Communications. She relocated to SW Florida, gaining recognition as a 25 year radio and television personality and animal advocate.  She has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, 234 Journal, Old Mountain Press Anthologies and in Kakalak 2016. Bell has both a poem and short story in Wolf Warriors: The National Wolfwatcher Coalition Anthology. Staci is a member of the NCWN.


Joan M. Howard lives in Hiawassee and in Athens, Georgia. Joan loves to kayak on Lake Chatuge and take long walks on the Chatuge Dam. She holds a BA from Indiana University and an MA from the University of Oregon. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies.  She published a poetry collection recently, Death and Empathy: My Sister Web, which is in memory of her sister, Webster and her husband Jack.

It has been said that, “Howard’s poetry will not only make you ache for something or someone lost; it will stitch together a broken heart.”

The public is invited to attend Coffee with the Poets and Writers. Everyone is invited to take part in Open Mic and read a poem or short piece of prose. 

This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network West, a program of the state literary organization, North Carolina Writers’ Network. 

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

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

NCWN to host their first ever Online Open Mic, Wednesday, June 14, 2017, 7:00 PM



Charles Fiore and Ed Southern have had a "crazy idea" and it involves writers of all genres.

On Wednesday, June 14, at 7:00 pm, the North Carolina Writers' Network will host our first-ever Online Open Mic! Registrants will be given five-minute time slots, and all genres are encouraged (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid, etc.) 

Registration is free, but is limited to 16 participants, first-come, first served.

"Online Open Mic"
When: Wednesday, June 14, 7:00-8:30 pm, EST
Where: Online (internet or phone connection required)
Cost: Free


This opportunity is available to anyone with an internet connection and a working microphone (and/or webcam) on their computer, or readers can participate over the phone.

Registrants will be sent log-in instructions no less than 24 hours prior to the Open Mic. 

Monday, June 12, 2017

Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford to read at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, on Thursday, June 15, 2017



JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

On Thursday, June 15, 2017 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and North Carolina Writers' Network-West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This event is held regularly on the third Thursday the month. The reading is free of charge and the public is invited to attend. Poets Karen Paul Holmes and Brenda Kay Ledford will be the featured readers, both of which are widely published poets. This should be an excellent program and presents an exceptional opportunity to hear these two women read their poems, many of which are centered on the mountain area.

Karen Paul Holmes was selected for Best Emerging Poets, 2015 (Stay Thirsty Media), and her full-length poetry collection, Untying the Knot,was published by Aldrich Press in 2014 (available on Amazon.com). Her poems have appeared in journals, such as Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Poetry East, and Atlanta Review, and anthologies such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vol 5: Georgia. Holmes serves as the Towns County Representative for the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and is a member of the Georgia Poetry Society.

Formerly the VP-Communications at ING, Holmes now works as a freelance writer and teaches writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School, Writers Circle, and elsewhere. She’s inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake Chatuge, and her home in Hiawassee, GA. Holmes supports writers through a critique group she started in Atlanta, and the Writers Night Out she founded/hosts in Blairsville on the second Friday of every month.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School, earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University, and received a diploma of highest honors in creative writing from Stratford Career Institute.

Ledford’s work has appeared in many journals including Our State, Woman’s World, Country Extra, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Angels on Earth, 30 Old Mountain Press anthologies and Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition coffee-table book.

Aldrich Press published her poetry book, Crepe Roses, that won the 2015 Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians. Ledford has received this award nine times for her books, collecting oral history on Southern Appalachian and on her blogs: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com and http://historicalhayesville.blogspot.com.She also won the North Carolina Press Association’s Journalism Contest Award for her feature on the John C. Campbell Folk School in 1999.

Ledford is listed with A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, North Carolina Literary Map, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and Who’s Who in America. She has appeared on the “Common Cup,” talk show on Windstream Communication’s cable television, and also was interviewed on “The Blue Sky Show” over WJUL/WJRB Radio Station and gives regional poetry readings.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Open Mic night in Sylva, June 16, 7 pm

The Jackson branch of NCWN-West will be hosting its monthly Open Mic night at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC, at 7:00 pm on Friday, June 16th.  Beverages, desserts, and an incredibly friendly group--come on out! 

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Interview with Kathryn Stripling Byer available

For those who knew Kathryn Byer and those who would like to know more about her, an excellent interview with her was done by Jack Prather in his book Six Notable Women of North Carolina. Pictures you have not seen elsewhere are in this book. Find it on Amazon.com


Biography of Late NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer
Appears in Six Notable Women of North Carolina

A biography of the late Kathryn Stripling "Kay" Byer, the first woman and longest-serving (2005-2009) Poet Laureate in the state, is featured in Six Notable Women of North Carolina by Jack J. Prather of Hendersonville, founder of the Young Writers Scholarship at Warren Wilson College. The 43-page biography includes poems selected by the poet who passed away on June 5th, plus photos reflecting her life journey.

Another writer among the subjects in Prather's 2015 sequel to Twelve Notables of North Carolina published in 2012 is Kathy Reichs of Charlotte, a renowned novelist and inspiration for the long-running 'Bones' TV series.

Both books of biographies were nominated for the North Carolina Literary & Historical Association Ragan Award for Non-Fiction, and  are available at amazon.com/books.

Jack J. Prather
prathergroup@aol.com
828-808-0660
www.amazon.com/books

Thursday, June 8, 2017

WNO Dedicated to Kathryn Stripling Byer on June 9

Kathryn (Kay) Byer
Our featured reader for this month's Writers' Night Out is Glenda Beall, who will read her own work and talk a little about Kathryn (Kay) Byer, a past Program Coordinator for NCWN-West, former NC Poet Laureate, and friend/mentor to many writers.

To honor her memory and contributions to our writing community, please feel free to read a poem of Kay's at open mic (instead of, or in addition to, your own poem or prose).

Glenda Beall
Writers' Night Out
7 pm,  Room 201
Union County Community Center
Blairsville, GA






Please Note: The View Grill is under new management and the new menu is getting great reviews. If you plan to eat, please arrive by 6 pm.


Wednesday, June 7, 2017

2009, Kathryn Stripling Byer paid a visit to Hayesville and blogged about it

Kathryn Stripling Byer visited Coffee with the Poets in Hayesville in 2009. Revisit that day when our local poets read for the Poet Laureate and she read for us.

http://kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-03-15T18:47:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=14&by-date=false

If you were there, leave us a comment about what you remember and how you felt that day.

Karen Holmes in 2009