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.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Brenda Kay Ledford Receives Paul Green Award
Brenda Kay Ledford received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her poetry book, Red Plank House. Kelsay Books printed this collection and it was endorsed by Evan Miller, senior editor of Guidepost Magazine.
The NCSH held their 77th Annual Award's Ceremony in the Chambers Building located on the Davidson College Campus in Davidson, North Carolina on Saturday, October 12, 2019. A distinguished panel selected Ledford's work to receive this prestigious award for preserving the history of Appalachia.
Ledford has won the Paul Green Multimedia Award a dozen times for her books, blogs, and collecting oral history on the people and places of Southern Appalachia. She also received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who's Who in America for her writing and work as an educator.
For more information: ncsocietyofhistorians.org.
http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com
Monday, October 14, 2019
The Literary Hour Readings, This Thursday, October 17, 2019, at JCC Folk School, Brasstown, NC, featuring, Glenda Council Beall, James F. I. Davis, and Mary Michelle Brodine Keller
On Thursday, October 17, 2019, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell
Folk School and NC Writers' Network-West will sponsor The Literary Hour. At
this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus,
in Brasstown, NC. This event is now held in the community room. The Literary
Hour is held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated.
This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month's featured
readers will be Glenda Council Beall, James F. I. Davis, and Mary Michelle
Brodine Keller.
Glenda Council Beall moved from southwest Georgia to
Hayesville, North Carolina in 1995; it has been home ever since. Her poetry,
essays and short stories have been published online, in magazines and in
literary journals. Beall’s poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then,
was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. She co-authored a collection of
stories, poems and articles in 2018, Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins,
Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures.
One of her hobbies is genealogy. In 1998 she compiled
stories about her grandfather and his ten children and the hardback book, Profiles
and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 – 1911).
Beall teaches writing in her studio, Writers Circle around
the Table, the Institute of Continuing Learning, and Tri-County Community
College. She serves as program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’
Network-West.
James F. I. Davis
grew up on a family farm, got a degree in Economics from Cornell University, an
MBA in International Business from The American University, and spent three
years in the US Army, leaving as a Captain. Davis was an international banker
for most of his working years, lived in Europe and Latin America, and traveled
to more than 50 countries during his career.
Several hundred of Davis’ articles have been published, mostly
about finance, economics and the effects of government policies on people's
standard of living. Recently he has been writing mostly humorous stories about
interesting people and/or unique situations he encountered while traveling the
world for business and pleasure. He hopes to turn these stories into an
entertaining novel. His first literary attempt garnered second place in a
national short story contest.
Mary Michelle Brodine Keller, or Mary Mike as she is often
called by her friends, writes poetry, essays, and short fiction. She draws her
subject matter from things she sees or experiences, putting meaning to them.
She is also a visual artist, painting in oil, watercolors and pastels. She likes to think of her poetry as painting
with words.
Her poems have been published in The Mountain Lynx, and in
anthologies: Freeing Jonah III and IV, Lights in the Mountains, Echos
Across the Blueridge, Stories, Essays and Poems by Writers Living in and
Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains and various other
publications. She calls herself a reader, reading to others in a variety of
settings, and finding that more satisfying than publication, as it is a shared
experience.
For more information regarding this event, contact Mary
Ricketson at: maryricketson311@hotmail.com.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Barrett and Paine Featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers October 16
Glenda Barrett |
Glenda Barrett is a native of Hiawassee, Georgia. She
writes poems and essays that have been published yearly since 1997, including Woman's
World, Country Woman, Now & Then Magazine, and Journal of
Kentucky Studies. She is the author of two books, a chapbook titled When
the Sap Rises, published by Finishing Line Press, and a full-length poetry book
titled The Beauty of Silence, published by Aldrich Press.
Glenda is an avid reader and also a visual artist. Her
artwork is online at Fine Art America. She is retired from healthcare
and feels fortunate to be able to do the things she loved as a child, painting
and writing. She lives in Hiawassee with her husband of forty-six years.
Roy Paine |
Roy Paine was raised near
Boston and lived his entire life within ten miles of his birthplace, except for
four years when he was in the military. He served in the US Navy from 1981-1985
attaining the rank of Petty Officer Second Class (E5). During his time in the
Navy, he earned the Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Armed Forces
Expeditionary Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.
He moved to the mountains
in Nantahala National Forest of North Carolina in 2016, and the relaxing
atmosphere immediately inspired him to write. Besides writing stories, Roy
likes telling them through the spoken word story as an art form. He won first
place in the Amateur Division at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival in
Woodruff, South Carolina in 2017.
Roy published his
first book Bumbly Bee Can't Fly in December of 2017. When he is not
writing, he enjoys hiking, camping, and fishing.
Submitted by Carroll S. Taylor
Saturday, October 5, 2019
ATTENTION POETS:
CROSSWINDS POETRY IS CALLING FOR SUBMISSIONS
Crosswinds is pleased to announce that Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet and recipient of several notable literary awards,
will judge this year's contest.
Grand Prize - $ 1,000.00
Second Prize - $ 250.00
Third Prize - $ 100.00
All winners will be announced in Poets & Writers Magazine, on our web-site, and in other announcements.
As a reminder, all poems will be considered for publication. A minimum of one hundred poems to be published in our Spring edition.
For guidelines, sample copies
or to pre-order the upcoming issue
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Open Mic at City Lights, Sylva, 10/4, 7 pm
The Jackson County branch of the North Carolina Writers' Network-West is hosting its monthly Open Mic night tomorrow, 10/4/19, at City Lights Bookstore on Spring Street in Sylva, NC. Come out to read with a small but diverse and supportive audience and have some wine and cookies at 7:00 p.m.!
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Meet our Writers' Night Out Headliners: Linda Jones & Alan Cone
October 11, 7 pm
Blairsville, GA
Open Mic follows the reading
Join us for Linda's intelligent, heartfelt poetry; and Alan's smart, quirky prose. (Read his bio below for a sample).
Linda Grayson Jones is an Associate Professor of Biology and Dean of Math
and Science at Young Harris College. She has read and written poetry since
childhood and recalls reading The
Highwayman by Alfred Noyes to her third-grade classmates. With a B.S. in
Biology from Stetson University, an M.A. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Pathology
from Vanderbilt University, Linda's career path was primarily in academic
biomedical research, but in 2009 she returned to her first love—teaching. She
remains a reader and writer of poetry and is a member of the North Carolina
Writers’ Network. She credits North Carolina poet Nancy Simpson (1938-2018) for
encouraging her to use Grayson Jones as her published poet’s name.
Alan Cone is the author of many short stories and a novel, The History of the Decline and Fall of
Roland Arnheiter. He explains that he “comes to North Georgia by way of
Texas, on our nation’s frontier, where a man writes with both fists or
perishes.” Alan's work is anchored always in a common man’s self-effacing
humility. His penchant for dry humor and sarcasm is reflected in his artist’s
statement: “With acuity and wisdom, with perceptiveness and whimsy, I usher
audiences through an odyssey of freshman-level erudition and beyond. My quietly
courageous abasement of the writer’s dais will leave you challenged,
thoughtful, hungry for less.” He also
admits that he does not actually smoke a pipe.
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