Brenda Kay Ledford Published in The Lake

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "Mountain Sisters," appeared in "The Lake," August, 2017 issue.  This poem is in memory of Poet Katherine Stripling Byer. 


http://www.thelakepoetry.co.uk/poetry/brenda-kay-ledford

Local Author Deanna Klingel publishes new book, Spirit the Tiny White Reindeer, with Progressive Rising Phoenix Press

Progressive Rising Phoenix Press is proud to announce that Spirit the Tiny White Reindeer was released August 5th, 2017. This charming Christmas book, suitable for children of all ages, is filled with delightful illustrations by the talented Steve Daniels and rhyming text by award-winning author Deanna Klingel.

The book is a new holiday classic to be enjoyed season after season by children, parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers. Targeting the real meaning of the Christmas, the Christmas Spirit, the theme teaches the importance of keeping the Christmas spirit alive year round. The message is easy to grasp, and the lilting rhyme is one that children can recite and memorize on their own. It is the perfect seasonal or gift for any occasion and can be passed down from generation to generation.

"The world needs the gift that talented author, Deanna Klingel, brings us in this refreshing visit to Santa's workshop where virtues are valued, and a tiny misfit reindeer is welcome. This adorable reindeer, who personifies true Christmas Spirit, is a charming addition to each family's holiday traditions."-- Cathy Gilmore, award-winning children's author and ministry founder of Virtue Work Media.com.


Deanna Klingel, award-winning author of children's books, YA novels, and short stories, has lived many places with her childhood sweetheart husband Dave, but they now call the North Carolina mountains their home. The couple enjoys visiting their seven grown children and their families. Deanna K. Klingel often visits schools, libraries, and book stores. She is a member of NCWN-West.

Jennifer Holley Lux to Read the Poetry of Thomas Lux at Writers' Night, Blairsville, GA

An Evening Dedicated to Humorous Writing

Because we all need a little more laughter in our lives...

Bring something funny to read for open mic! 

Our featured reader is the poet, Jennifer Holley Lux, widow of Tom Lux, internationally known poet and teacher who passed away in February to the dismay of poetry lovers all over the world. His poems are full of intelligent, quirky humor, often with an undercurrent of joy. 

Tara Lynne Groth to teach Email Marketing Class for Authors at Writers Circle, Hayesville, NC, on Saturday, August 5, 2017

Tara Lynne Groth will teach an Email Marketing Class for Authors, at Writers Circle, Hayesville, NC, on Saturday, August 5, 2017.

Tara Lynne Groth writes SEO content and develops blogs for site owners. Before running her writing business she was a marketing manager and public relations director. She speaks at conferences and teaches classes on best blogging practices and search engine optimization.

Authors keep in touch with their audience by sending newsletters, book tour updates, and special event info. Email marketing has grown more reliable as social media reach becomes unpredictable.

When you have an audience who volunteers to hear from you, you need to nurture it. How can you increase open rates with crafty subject lines, prevent unsubscribes, and boost engagement? We'll review these topics, plus user-friendly email marketing services.

Groth increased the open rate of her monthly newsletter by approximately 25% in the past year, and has increased open rates for her clients by more than 20%. www.taralynnegroth.com

For details on this class, please contact Glenda Council Beall at 828-389-4441, or at:

http://www.glendacouncilbeall.com/Writers Circle Around the Table

Poet Glenda Barrett to read at Coffee with the Poets & Writers on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, at the Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC

This Wednesday, July 19, 2017, poet Glenda Barrett will read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers, at 10:30 AM, at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. This event is sponsored by the North Carolina Writers' Network-West, and is open to the public. An open mic for all attendees will follow Barrett's reading.

 Glenda Barrett, a native of Hiawassee, Georgia, is an artist, poet, and writer. Her work has been

widely published yearly since her first writing class in 1997 and has appeared in: Woman's World, Farm & Ranch Living, Country Woman, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Journal of Kentucky Living, Nantahala Review, Rural Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Kaleidoscope Magazine and many more.

Barrett's poetry chapbook, When the Sap Rises, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2008. She has completed two more books since that time, a book of poetry with Kelsay Books, The Beauty of Silence,  available on Amazon, and a book of Appalachian essays. Glenda worked many years in various healthcare system jobs and retired due to a form of Muscular Dystrophy.

She is very grateful to be able to devote her time to the two things she loved as a child, painting and writing. She has two grown children and lives with her husband of forty-two years in the North Georgia mountains.

Barrett is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network-West. For more information on this event, contact Glenda Council Beall, Program Coordinator of NCWN-West, at 828-389-4441.

Write about your life with Glenda Beall

Glenda Beall, Program Coordinator for NCWN West and writing instructor, will teach a writing course at the Institute of Continuing Learning at Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA. She has been teaching memoir writing for ten years at John C. Campbell Folk School, Tri-County Community College or at ICL.

She also teaches at her studio, Writers Circle around the Table, in Hayesville, NC. Call her with any questions about classes at 828-389-4441.

Registration for the ICL class closes Friday morning, July 7.

Entertain and Enlighten your Readers with your Life Stories.

Wednesdays, 3:15 pm  - 5:15 pm    July 12 – July 26
How do we begin to write about our lives? Can we use dialogue, stories passed down from parents, and do we have to prove they are true? In today’s world where family members often live long distances from each other, it is difficult to share the interesting lives we have lived. There seems to be no time to sit on the porch and talk about the past. But we can still share our life experiences with our children, grandchildren and future generations by writing them now. In this class we will write entertaining as well as enlightening short pieces or memoir chapters and receive feedback from our classmates. 

Click Here for registration information and contact phone number.

Institute for Continuing Learning

Open Mic Night at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, July 7, 7 pm

It's that time again!  The Jackson branch of NCWN-West is hosting its monthly Open Mic night at City Lights Bookstore, on Spring Street, in Sylva, at 7:00 pm on Friday evening, July 7.  There'll be desserts and beverages, including wine, and a warm and supportive crowd.  Come join us! 

Poet Maren O. Mitchell has poems in the July 2017 publication of The Lake, in Slant, Summer 2017, in POEM, May 2017, and Comstock Review Spring/Summer 2017

Maren O. Mitchell's poem, "Outside In," is currently in the July issue of The Lake, an online English poetry journal. Her poem, "A Is an Article to Anchor," appears in SLANT, A Journal of Poetry, Summer 2017, and poems, "K, Lost Dog" and "I Want to Remember" appeared in POEM, May 2017. Forthcoming in Comstock Review, Spring/Summer 2017 is the poem, "D, The First Syllable."

July 14 Writers' Night Out Features Philip Levine Prize Winner

Featured Readers plus Open Mic

Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA 

Appalachian author Glenda Barrett publishes a new book, The Beauty of Silence, with Kelsay Books

Appalachian author Glenda Barrett has published a book of poetry with Kelsay Books. The Beauty of Silence, is available on amazon. Here is what writers Nancy Simpson, Mary Ricketson, and Janice Townley Moore say about Barrett's book:

In The Beauty of Silence, Glenda Barrett reveals the most authentic Appalachian voice to rise out of the southern mountains in years. “The Gist of the Matter,” invites us in, as she sits at a table with her kinfolks, peeling and eating an apple. The reader listens as this wise family elder recounts the then and now of her mountain heritage. In her poem, “Sorting it Out,” she affirms, “In hindsight, my best lessons were learned not in good times, but in deepest sorrow. I learned pain would not destroy me.” Her hope is to share specific truths. This nugget of wisdom emerges from, “Serenity,” “I’ve learned the comfort and peace found in solitude.” I chose, “The Fork of the River,” as my favorite. “My best lessons have been learned not in chaos, but in places of silence. Like the Cherokee before me, I seek direction in the quietness of the morning."

—Nancy Simpson, author of Across Water, Night Student, and Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems


Glenda Barrett’s poems reflect a wisdom that grows from a life-long relationship with nature. The gentle flow of a mountain stream, the hardship of ice in winter, and a sudden drought in summer contribute to her perspective. In The Beauty of Silence, Barrett plants seeds for the reader through a garden of strong people, simple ways, and the wisdom of experience. From her grandmother, her ancestors, flowers in a garden, to the trail tree of the Cherokee, she sifts her life to find nuggets of country wisdom. She “stands knee deep in the cool, clear waters of Owl Creek.” A quiet simplicity feeds her, feeds the reader. “Clods of dirt are busted, large rocks rolled aside, tangled vines uprooted, and brambles turned under,” until it’s time to return to my complicated life.” Barrett is a “homegrown girl” who couldn’t leave her roots for long. Her poems provide the reader a wealth of perspective, a wisdom long remembered.

—Mary Ricketson, M. E. Ed., Licensed Professional Counselor, author of I Hear the River Call My Name, and Hanging Dog Creek

In clearly crafted poems, Glenda Barrett connects a literal geography, the North Georgia mountains of her heritage, to a landscape of honest and varied emotions. There is elation in, “I can almost feel the pulse beat of my ancestors who hoed this ground,” balanced with sorrow, “I felt searing pain like deep furrows plowed slowly back and forth across my heart.” As a poet who finds meaning in the ordinary, she often surprises the reader with insights such as, “For the soil to be useful it has to be broken.” Always close to the natural world, her poems reveal that she is a professor of the five senses, as when she describes spring, “Even the red tulips . . . with their mouths wide open seem to be shouting with the rest of creation, 'Hallelujah.'" As seen her lines reflect a triumphant spirit that is certain to be transferred to readers.

—Janice Townley Moore, author of Teaching the Robins



 Glenda Barrett, a native of Hiawassee, Georgia, is an artist, poet, and writer. Her work has been

widely published yearly since her first writing class in 1997 and has appeared in: Woman's World, Farm & Ranch Living, Country Woman, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Journal of Kentucky Living, Nantahala Review, Rural Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Kaleidoscope Magazine and many more.

Barrett's poetry chapbook, When the Sap Rises, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2008. She has completed two more books since that time, a full-length poetry book which is currently under review by a publisher and a book of Appalachian essays. Glenda worked many years in various healthcare system jobs and retired due to a form of Muscular Dystrophy.

She is very grateful to be able to devote her time to the two things she loved as a child, painting and writing. She has two grown children and lives with her husband of forty-two years in the North Georgia mountains.

Barrett is a member of the North Carolina Writers' Network-West.