Monday, August 22, 2022

Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association offers classes

If you are into visual arts, Blue Ridge Mountain Arts is the place this summer. I'll bet you could teach a writing class for them if you live close enough to Blue Ridge, Georgia. 

 https://myemail.constantcontact.com/2022-Late-Summer-Workshops-and-Classes-at-BRMAA--August-2022--.html?soid=1102083584445&aid=g2jfJME7xOc

This is the home of the Blue Ridge Writers Conference held each spring and founded by Carol Crawford years ago. Carol is a member of NCWN-West and was the facilitator of our Netwest Poetry Critique group when I first moved to these mountains. 

BRMAA has always been a friend to us and recently sold one of my poetry books in their gift shop. Thanks, BRMAA.


"Crop Dusters"

Karen Jackson's Poem Published in Susurrus

Karen Luke Jackson
"Crop Dusters," a poem about my mother and bluebirds, just appeared in the summer issue of Susurrus, a relatively new online journal that focuses on the American South.  Below are links to the poem and to the journal if you'd like to check it out. 

Crop Dusters 

Susurrus



Sunday, August 21, 2022

Celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Gene Hirsch, poet

 


Those in the photo above met Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life of the late Dr. Gene Hirsch who was the founder of the writing program at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the early nineties. Because of his dedication to writing and writers, many poets, novelists, and creative nonfiction writers found their voices, and found the confidence and inspiration to write their stories in verse or in prose.

All of us present on Saturday told our story of how Gene influenced us. He was the most generous of people and taught poetry classes for free out of his cabin in Cherokee County NC.

He taught at the folk school every time he came down from his home in Pennsylvania where he worked as a geriatric doctor. Gene was a person who encouraged others. He never made anyone feel they were unworthy to call themselves poets and as a result so many people published their words that were found to be important to others. 

I am especially grateful to Gene Hirsch because the writing program at the John Campbell Folk School was where most of my writing education took place. I did not study creative writing in college but was once told I had an equivalent of a master's degree right here from the best writers anywhere. 

People like Valerie Nieman, Kathryn Byer, Darnell Arnoult, Steven Harvey, Carol Crawford, Nancy Simpson, and so many other wonderful teachers came to Brasstown NC, and taught us for a week and made a huge difference in our lives. 

I took one or two week-long classes every year for ten years and then I taught at the folk school. Thank you, Gene. You never knew how many people you touched because you convinced the director and the board of the folk school to include the craft of writing in their schedule.

Thanks to Mary Ricketson for organizing this memorial to Gene.


Saturday, August 20, 2022

Famous Hometown Poet Brenda K. Ledford Will Speak at Coffee with the Poets and Writers




Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature award-winning poet Brenda K. Ledford on Wednesday, September 14, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.
The event is free and open to the public.  
An open mic will follow the presentation. Bring a poem or short prose piece of about three minutes to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West (NCWN-West) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.
Brenda K. Ledford is a seventh-generational native of Clay County, NC. She was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School and earned a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She's done post-graduate work in Journalism at the University of Tennessee and holds a degree of highest honor in Creative Writing from Stratford Career Institute.
Ledford's work has appeared in many publications including Our State, Asheville Poetry Review, Appalachian Heritage, 50 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and many other journals.  She's received the Paul Green Multimedia Award thirteen times for her blogs, books, and collecting oral history on Southern Appalachia. 

Her children's book The Singing Convention received the "Children's Book Award" in 2021 from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Her poetry book, Leatherwood Fallsis upcoming with Kelsay Books.
Besides writing, her hobbies include storytelling, playing the keyboard and harmonica, singing Gospel music, and reading.  She also enjoys photography and has won awards for her landscape and nature photos.
Her award-winning blog can be reached at https://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com/
Coffee With the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022.
Please do not park in the Book Store parking lot. For information contact Joan Howard joanhoward121@gmail.com.
Written by Joan Howard


Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Writing In, Of and For Place, Fall 2022 Writer's Workshop

 Fall 2022 Writer’s Workshop

Writing In, Of and For Place
With Annette Clapsaddle
Author of “Even as We Breathe”

Explore methods for infusing physical sensation and environmental awareness into your writing through practice, observation, and structure. We will focus on what it is like to experience a specific landscape and community and the responsibilities we have when sharing it with others through our writing. This workshop is applicable to fiction and creative nonfiction writers. All levels welcome.

Annette Clapsaddle

 

September 24, 2022
9am-3 pm
$100 per Person
Lunch Included
Register at Coweeschool.org

Register Now – Class is limited to 15 participants




Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center
51 Cowee School Drive
Franklin, NC 28734

Sunday, August 14, 2022

Memorial planned for Dr. Gene Hirsch, poet and inspiring leader of writers in western NC and North Georgia

 Saturday, August 20,  1 - 2 PM at John C. Campbell Folk School in Open House Pavilion on campus

Bring a poem of Gene’s or a poem of your own to share.

Dr. Gene Hirsch inspired so many poets in our area to look at the world in unique ways. He inspired us with his kindness and his permission to take a chance with our writing. He wanted poets to have a safe and supportive place to create. Gene never liked to judge others. He respected all. 

Through his support of North Carolina Writers Network -West and through his classes at the Folk School he was one of the people who opened our world in these beautiful mountains to be a poetry place where poetry was, is, and will continue to be created. He influenced everyone he met.

Directions to the  site of the memorial:

Approaching the John C. Campbel Folk School from the area of Clays Corner and the Shops of Brasstown, take the first left, past the gift shop, past Davidson Hall, and see the Open House pavilion on right. Parking is available there, close, or down at the gift shop for those who prefer to walk a bit. One unisex restroom is available in Open House.

Thanks for helping us honor Gene.

Diana Smith and Mary Ricketson

No need to RSVP

If need to contact:  Mary Ricketson maryricketson311@hotmail.com

                                   Diana Smith  paws10@windstream.net

Friday, August 12, 2022

Writer and Poet David Plunkett to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths

 Members of Mountain Wordsmiths are honored to have as our featured reader David Plunkett on Thursday morning, August 25, at 10:30 via Zoom. Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will continue its online Zoom presence because local writers as well as writers from other cities and states are now joining us each month online.

Plunkett is the author of two novels Chessboard (2019) and Poisoned Pawn (2022).  Readers of Chessboard call it “intriguing and captivating,” a “strong story… about human nature, the shadow workings of our government and terrorists in Afghanistan,” and an “accurate and believable… contemporary thriller.” His poems “North Carolina Mountains Shade to Blue” and “Saturday” were included in the most recent Old Mountain Press anthologies The Cataloochee Bridge and Oops.  Other poems “Kitner’s Dog” and “Moby Dick” and the short story “Evidence” were published in the scrivener.

As a journalist, Plunkett has won writing awards for reporting and feature writing from the Georgia Press Association and the Alabama Press Association.

As Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, DC, his professional writing has been published in law journals and magazines, as well as food industry newsletters, and was influential on national and state policies affecting food safety and consumer protection.

Plunkett began writing poetry and short stories in elementary school and continued to write for pleasure through college and law school, publishing several poems in various college student publications.

He hopes to close out the Chessboard series with a third novel tentatively titled Endgame. Other projects currently in the works are a chapbook of sonnets and other poems tentatively titled A Sonnet for My Wife and collections of his short stories and flash fiction.

Plunkett lives with his wife Vickie in Towns County, GA, just a long centerfield throw to home plate from Lake Chatuge and within walking distance of a curiously detached section of North Carolina.

NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. Also known as NetWest, our organization will offer writing events and writing classes online, while several writing groups are now meeting face-to-face again.

Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

By Carroll Taylor 


                        

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Literary Hour Returns to John C. Campbell Folk School

The North Carolina Writers’ Network-West’s Literary Hour returns to the John C.Campbell Folk School on Thursday, August 18, 2022, at 7 p.m., after a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. The event will be held in the Open House. The Literary Hour is free and open to the public.

The featured writers for August are Brenda Kay Ledford and Glenda Beall.

Brenda Kay Ledford
 Brenda Kay Ledford, a seventh-generational native of Clay County, North Carolina, is an award-winning author, blogger, and retired educator. Her work has appeared in many journals including Asheville Poetry Review, Our State, Appalachian Heritage, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Guidepost Magazine, 49 Old Mountain Press anthologies, and many other publications. She writes about nature and wants to help preserve the culture of this region. She's received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians thirteen times for her books. Ledford will read poetry from her latest book, Blanche, Poetry of a Blue Ridge Woman, which was released by Redhawk Publishing in 2021.

Glenda Council Beall

Glenda Beall serves as program coordinator for the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West. Her essays, poetry, and short stories have been published in magazines and literary journals as well as online. Her poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. She has co-authored a collection of stories, poems, and essays Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins, Family Pets and God’s Other Creatures

Much of her writing is filled with stories about horses, dogs, and cats that have been a part of her family. Her love of genealogy led her to compile stories of her grandfather and his ten children in Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 – 1911). Beall’s online classes, Writers Circle around the Table, and classes for the Institute of Continuing Learning reach people from all over the country. She will read her creative non-fiction as well as short stories.

 The Literary Hour will be held on the third Thursday of the month through November at John C. Campbell Folk School in the roofed and open pavilion of the Open House. From Clays Corner in Brasstown turn onto Brasstown Road, then turn left on Scoggins Road then left again to pass Davidson Hall. Or coming from Marsh Creek, turn right onto Davidson Road and follow around to Open House. Parking is in front near the vegetable gardens.

 Anyone with a love of the written word will be transported by the talent of each month’s featured writers. Contact Patricia Zick at pczick23@gmail.com for further information.

Patricia Zick



Saturday, July 30, 2022

Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets and Writers

Catherine Carter Will Speak at Coffee With the Poets  and Writers on August 10 at Moss Memorial Library

Catherine Carter, professor at Western Carolina University

 Coffee with the Poets and Writers (CWPW) will feature poet Catherine Carter on Wednesday, August 10, at 10:30 A.M. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, N.C.

The event is free and open to the public.  An open mic will follow the presentation.  Bring a poem or short prose piece of about three minutes to participate.  CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West (NCWN-W), which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Catherine Carter is now a professor of English at Western Carolina University.  On a good day, she can roll a whitewater kayak and re-queen a beehive; on less good days, she collects stings, rock-rash, and multiple contusions. 

Catherine also "enjoys cooking, especially vegetable and beans, because it's probably the original human art and it produces something everyone can enjoy; and I'd probably enjoy some kind of crafting if I weren't a complete clutz with my hands; I get Wordle most of the time but not always."

Catherine Carter’s collections of poetry with LSU Press include The Memory of Gills (2006) The Swamp Monster at Home (2012), and Larvae of the Nearest Stars (2019); she has one chapbook with Jacar Press, Marks of the Witch

Her poetry has won the North Carolina Literary Review’s James Applewhite Prize, the North Carolina Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Award, Jacar Press’ chapbook contest; it has also appeared in Orion, Poetry, Ecotone, RHINO, North American Review, Southern Humanities Review, Poetry South, Tar River Poetry, and Ploughshares, among others.  

Coffee With the Poets and Writers will meet every second Wednesday from June until December 2022.  Masks are optional.  

Please do not park in the Book Store parking lot. 

For more information, contact Joan Howard, joanhoward121@gmail.com

Friday, July 22, 2022

Novel workshop


John Desjarlais, novelist


John Desjarlais will be leading a 2-day fiction workshop, "Write That Novel!", at The Barn In Penrose (near Brevard, NC) on September 22, 23. Details and registration here: https://www.thebarninpenrose.com/one-day-workshops. For more on me, see www.johndesjarlais.com



Poet and Professor Scott Owens to be Featured Reader for Mountain Wordsmiths


SCOTT OWENS, POET

Members of Mountain Wordsmiths are honored to have as our featured reader distinguished poet and professor Scott Owens on Thursday morning, July 28, at 10:30 via Zoom. 

Our monthly gathering, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, will continue its online presence because local writers, as well as writers from other cities and states, are now joining us each month on Zoom.

Owens is the author of seventeen collections of poetry and a recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Pushcart Prize Anthology, the Next Generation/Indie Lit Awards, the NC Writers Network, the NC Poetry Society, and the Poetry Society of SC.

His newest collection, Worlds Enough, is a collaboration with artist, MissyCleveland, and is his first written for children. His poems have been featured in The Writer’s Almanac eight times, and his articles about writing poetry have been used in Poet’s Market for several years.

Owens holds degrees from Ohio University, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.  He is Professor of Poetry at Lenoir Rhyne University and former editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review and Southern Poetry Review. He owns and operates Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse and Gallery and coordinates Poetry Hickory in Hickory, NC.  

 NCWN-West is continuing to stay in touch by using technology to share our writing. We will offer writing events and writing classes online, while several other events are meeting face-to-face again. Many writers are enjoying the convenience and flexibility of Zoom meetings because of the ability to join our gatherings from other locations.

 Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. We welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing.

                                         

Carroll S. Taylor, Author

 

chinaberrysummer.com

Chinaberry Summer

Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side

Feannag the Crow

Beneath the Sky and Waters

 


Thursday, July 21, 2022

News from Glenda Beall

 I am very pleased to be accepted for the anthology Kakalak 2022.

See the winners in poetry and art at:

https://moonshinereview.com/2022/07/21/kakalak-2022-announcing-winners-inclusion/


POETRY SELECTED FOR PUBLICATION

J. S. Absher, “The Place of the Blues in the Water and Carbon Cycles”

Laura White Alderson, “Oh That Billy Bumpus Lee”

Alexandra Aradas, “notes to ak freeland”

Pam Baggett, “To the Woman Who Told Me She Has Nothing in Common with Black People”

Don Ball, “Pocket-Dialing the Pandemic”

Richard Band, “On Tom Sawyer’s First Sight of Becky Thatcher”

Joan Barasovska, “Osage Avenue, Early Morning”

Sam Barbee, “DOA”

Michael Beadle, “The Gauntlet”

Glenda Council Beall, “If”

Libby Bernardin, “Self-portrait in a Red Dress”

Al Black, “Elysium Soccer Fields”

Teresa McLamb Blackmon, “The Hitchhiker”

Susan Blair, “The News Is Not New Anymore”

Gary Bolick, “A Country Heart”

Gay Boswell, “Rules”

Katie Ellen Bowers, “Most Mornings”

Cheryl Boyer, “Love, Simply”

Mary O’Keefe Brady, “How My Morning Goes”

Doris Thomas Browder, “Always She Moaned Her Own Bad Luck”

Joyce Compton Brown, “Forgive Me, I Just Bought a Refrigerator”

Les Brown, “Green Deserts”

Kathleen Calby, “Breakneck Creek”

Bill Caldwell, “Pluck”

Barbara Campbell, “What Really Mattered the Day the Ambulance Took You Away”

Paloma A. Capanna, “Sirens Over Ukraine”

Fran Cardwell, “Old Island Church Watch Night”

Mark Caskie, “Winter Rations”

Kenneth Chamlee, “What Falls Out”

S.L. Cockerille, “Take Jesus, for Example”

Joy Colter, “Ideation”

Barbara Conrad, “Who Has the Key to the Garden?”

Julie Ann Cook, “Massacre of the Innocents: An Art Class Study of Rubens’ Masterpiece”

Susan McClain Craig, “To the Living Statue”

Jane Mary Curran, “Funeral in March”

Steve Cushman, “This Is Not a Covid Poem”

Debra A. Daniel, “Revising My Mother’s Thirteenth Birthday”

John Desjarlais, “Our Fathers’ War”

David Dixon, “Holy Ground”

Mary Alice Dixon, “Snakeberry Mama”

J Dwight Donald, “A Native Son”

Deborah H. Doolittle, “In Connemara”

Sandra Dreis, “The Potato”

Joanne Durham, “Almost Morning”

Ralph Earle, “At a Pause in the Pandemic”

Nadine Ellsworth-Moran, “A Different Kind of String Theory”

Terri Kirby Erickson, “Cana”

Lynn Farmer, “Paid”

Nicole Farmer, “Exalted”

Michael Gaspeny, “Prince Memory”

Paige Gilchrist, “Weep Holes”

Ed Gold, “At the Wesley”

Terri Greco, “Sonnet After Gregory Orr”

Anne Waters Green, “On Viewing Behind the Myth of Benevolence”

Bill Griffin, “The Woman Who Fears She Has Lost Her Son”

Cordelia M. Hanemann, “Counting the Ways”

Janis Harrington, “Quarantine”

Sandra Sturtz Hauss, “Kensico—Last Day of Spring”

Peggy W. Heitmann, “Remedy”

Mary Hennessy, “A Praise Poem Without the Praise”

Ann Herlong-Bodman, “Deer in Shadows”

Jo Ann Hoffman, “At the Mouth of the Cave with Elijah”

Charles Israel, Jr., “Holy Sonnet 14”

Karen Luke Jackson, “Peeling at the Pale Green Line”

Becky Nicole James, “Cadillac”

Steph Jeffries, “Kindness, Served”

Kelly Jones, “starry night after the diagnosis”

Patricia A. Joslin, “Hiking the Blue Star”

Jeanne Julian, “Walk in Thaw”

Britt Kaufmann, “Rights County Appalachia”

Helga Kidder, “August Song”

Eugene Kusterer, “Encounter”

Dallas Lee, “Scuffing the Stones”

Susan Lefler, “If We Had Poets”

Greg Lobas, “Mother of Justice”

John Longbottom, “Drumbeat”

Kathryn Etters Lovatt, “She Is Not Herself”

Gina Malone, “Visitations”

Sandra Marshburn, “To My Students”

Mary E. Martin, “Caught”

Preston Martin, “George Cables and Cal and Eve”

Nancy Martin-Young, “ACME”

Katherine H. Maynard, “Bucking Hamlet’s Stars”

Terri McCord, “Decontaminating the Lake”

Marjorie Schratz McNamara, “Where We Are”

Ashley Memory, “Making Bread and Butter Pickles”

Yvette R. Murray, “Saturday Mornin’ in Washington Park”

Arlene Oraby, “My Black Beauty”

Alice Osborn, “Skirts in the Snow: Leaving the Donner Party”

Pattie Palmer-Baker, “Not Enough Love”

Aleta Payne, “Veritas”

Gail Peck, “Lunch Box from Hiroshima”

Gary Phillips, “Coyote”

Fred Pond, “Carolina Reaper in the Garden”

Gary V. Powell, “Dump Run”

Sarah Pross, “Gypsies”

David Radavich, “Loving Cleome”

Judith Cummings Reese, “Cassia”

Lucia Walton Robinson, “Picnic on James Whitcomb Riley’s Tomb, 1958”

Betty Ritz Rogers, “Gordon’s Ashes”

Marilyn Keith Rousseau, “Blood-Red Tomatoes”

Richard Rubin, “Passing”

Leslie M. Rupracht, “Aunt Barb’s Huckleberries”

Nasrollah Samiy, “Love Letters”

Diane Sasson, “Removal”

Roberta Schultz, “Deep Ends”

Martin Settle, “Die with Too Many Faces”

Jane Shlensky, “Ode to a Box Turtle”

Sherry Siddall, “Trading Path”

Michael Simpson, “For Edward R. Murrow”

H.R. Spencer, “Mahamari, a Haibun Sequence”

Caren Stuart, “Snake Harmer”

Nancy Swanson, “Savannah River Basin”

Lynne Santy Tanner, “My Phone Sends Me a Video of My Deceased Husband”

Jo Barbara Taylor, “Incunabulum”

Melinda Thomsen, “A Composition & Arrangement of Matter”

Lucinda Trew, “virgins widows and wives”

Rob Vance, “My Collection”

Mark Vogel, “Memo to Water Workers”

Priscilla Webster-Williams, “Photo of a Women’s Group in a Park, 1974”

Eric Weil, “A Generation-Counting Quilt”

Jennifer Weiss, “2020 Was the Worst Year”

Louise Gwathmey Weld, “Wild Night”

Nancy Harmon Womack, “The Seamstress”

Janice P. Wright, “We Apologize: A Poem 4 Our Youngins”

 

 I marked the poets I know on this list, but all of them are excellent. I am proud to be chosen and look forward to reading the book. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Songbirds and Stray Dogs Reading Aug. 9

Songbirds and Stray Dogs featured at Route 1 Reads

Authors Meagan Lucas, Ron Rash Virtual Book Conversation Aug. 9 

Meagan Lucas
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 14, 2022) – North Carolina Humanities, home to the North Carolina Center for the Book, announced today that it is featuring Songbirds and Stray Dogs by Meagan Lucas in programming and resources throughout 2022 as part of its annual Route 1 Reads initiative. Songbirds and Stray Dogs is Meagan Lucas’ debut novel.

North Carolina Humanities invites you to attend a virtual book conversation with Meagan Lucas and fellow North Carolina-based author Ron Rash on August 9, 2022 at 6:30 pm. Meagan and Ron will spend an hour talking about Songbirds and Stray Dogs, their writing processes, and Appalachian literature. This event is free and is hosted on Zoom. Registration is required.

Ron Rash

Follow this link to register:https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aln_zw75T2msQTTpiPw7xw 

Bookmarks, an independent bookstore based in Winston-Salem, is helping to support this event by giving away four $20 gift cards to their online and in-store book catalogue. Everyone who attends the August 9 book conversation program will automatically be entered to win. Winner will be selected at random. Additional giveaway details are below.*

Route 1 Reads is a road trip-inspired reading list that annually explores various genres and features books that illuminate important aspects of each individual state or commonwealth for readers traveling this meandering highway. The 2022 theme of the reading list is literary fiction.

On her selection by North Carolina Humanities, Meagan Lucas expressed, “I am thrilled and honored for Songbirds and Stray Dogs to have been chosen as North Carolina’s Route 1 Reads book. North Carolina is my home and the inspiration for so much of my work.”

As a genre, literary fiction novels are typically defined as stories that emphasize character and theme over plot. Set on the coast of South Carolina, and the mountains of Western North Carolina, geography and sense of place are both central to Songbirds and Stray Dogs.

“I consider Songbirds and Stray Dogs a love song to North Carolina – to the beauty of its geography, and the tenacity and kindness of its people,” Lucas said. “It’s a great introduction to the genre, and perhaps the perfect road trip read. I can’t wait for readers to meet, journey with, and fall in love with Jolene, Chuck, and Cash.”

Meagan Lucas lives with her husband and children in Flat Rock, North Carolina. She teaches Creative Writing at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and edits Reckon Review. Meagan’s short work has been published or is forthcoming in journals like The Santa Fe Writers’ Project, Still: The Journal, MonkeyBicycle, Cowboy Jamboree, BULL, Pithead Chapel, and others.

Ron Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestseller Serena and Above the Waterfall, in addition to four prizewinning novels, including The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.

*Giveaway terms and eligibility requirements: Everyone who attends the August 9 book conversation program, “North Carolina Humanities’ 2022 Route 1 Reads Conversation: Songbirds and Stray Dogs.” will automatically be entered to win one $20 gift card from Bookmarks. Winner chosen at random on August 10 by North Carolina Humanities. Winner will be contacted by email for name and mailing address. An email is required as part of registering for the event. Winner must respond within 30 days to claim prize. Winner will receive one $20 gift card to Bookmarks and one NC Humanities bookmark and pen. By entering, you confirm you are 18+ years of age.

Press Contact: Melanie Moore Richeson, North Carolina Humanities (North Carolina Center for the Book),  704-687-1520,  mmoore@nchumanities.org

About North Carolina Humanities: North Carolina Humanities is a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through public humanities programs and grantmaking, North Carolina Humanities connects North Carolinians with cultural experiences that spur dialogue, deepen human connections, and inspire community. The North Carolina Center for the Book is a collection of North Carolina Humanities’ reading and literature programs that celebrate the importance of books, reading, libraries, and North Carolina’s literary heritage. Route 1 Reads is a program of the North Carolina Center for the Book and is provided by North Carolina Humanities. To learn more, visit www.nchumanities.org.

About the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress: The Library’s Center for the Book, established by Congress in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading, is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated centers, collaborations with nonprofit reading-promotion partners, and through its Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. For more information, visit www.read.gov.


Monday, July 11, 2022

Sunday, July 10, Festival on the Square in Hayesville, NC

 Our photos were made by Raven Chiong and Knute Rarey.


On a very hot Sunday, Glenda Beall, Raven Chiong, and Pat Zick met
writers and readers, sold books and enjoyed each other's company.

David Plunkett, author of two novels Chessboard (2019) and Poisoned Pawn (2022) sitting with Glenda Beall author of Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins spent the afternoon wondering if the rain would hold off until time to go home.  It did!

Thanks to our local writers who staffed the booth at the festival, we sold a number of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, our anthology of Appalachian writers and poets, and shared the news about NCWN and NCWN-West. Quite a few people are moving to our region and they were excited to learn how many writing events are happening here. They took our new updated brochures and said they plan to join our organization. I expect to see some of them at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Moss Library in Hayesville this month when Lorraine Bennett is our featured guest. 

We must thank Knute Rary, Jim Davis and Stu and Gay Moring for erecting the tent on the square that sheltered our writers and our books this weekend. Knute and Jim loaded up their vehicles with tent, tables, chairs and other paraphernalia and unloaded them on our 10 x 10 site on the square of our historic little town. Thousands of people from far and near poured onto the area Saturday in spite of warnings of rain. But, luckily, no rain marred our day. 

Sunday we were warned that the day would be filled with thundershowers and storms. We kept our plastic ready but we had no rain until right at 4:00 PM. With Raven, David, Pat, Gay, and me on hand, we had our books safely put away, our table cloths folded and were delighted to see Knute arrive to load up his truck again.

I can never say enough about how wonderful it is to have my sister and her husband here to help me. Gay and Stu are the very best.
Gay and Stu Moring



Glenda Beall with a cooling towel around her neck is with Pat Zick, author and Cherokee County Representative for NCWN-West. Pat has the personality needed to bring people to the table and is a great ambassador for Netwest. We are happy she will be leading the Literary Hour at the John C. Campbell Folk School beginning in August. 

The Festival on the Square is over for this year. Hope we can all be back in 2023.