MORE SAD NEWS for me - "GOOD-BYE TO POET EUGENE V. ELLIS"

Eugene Vincent Ellis, an architect, pianist, composer and poet, died at home under hospice care at the age of 83 on Wednesday, October 21, 2015. He was one of the founding fathers of the Poetry at Callanwolde reading series at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta.

 Here is one of his poems, which appeared in the first issue ofCalamaro Magazine.

Babel

We dance in a widening ring around this tower
Under the fading light from a minor star;
All reason is suspended in this hour.
The ancient harpers and the dancers here
Sing foreign incantations and intone
Strange litanies unto their demon gods;

And I should be contented if but one
Could see and sing to me in mine own tongue.

(originally appeared in his poetry volume ALEWIVES: SELECTED POEMS, published by


Kudzu Editions in 2013)

Come to WRITERS' NIGHT OUT 6:00 p.m. Friday Night

Writers’ Night Out, takes place at the Union CountyCommunity Center in Blairsville, GA on Friday evening.

A real treat this Friday night is having national award-winning poet Scott Owens join us from Hickory, NC. His readings never disappoint. We're also lucky to have our own Glenda Beall entertain us with her delightful poetry and stories. 

Dinner or refreshment is available at The View Grill next door to the ballroom. The food is reasonably priced and yummy, but please allow lots of time to be served. Arrive by 6 pm or before, if possible. There's a deck with a fabulous view of the golf course and mountains. You can also bring food/drink into the ballroom from the grill. 

Optional dinner at The View Grill: 6 pm or earlier

Gather in ballroom: 7 pm

Featured reade:r 7:15, followed by open mic

Scott will also teach one of his terrific poetry workshops at Writers Circle on Saturday. For more information, see http://glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com/

Attached is a WNO flyer for you to post -- please take one to your church, library, college, etc. if possible. I appreciate any and all efforts to get the word out. Please forward this email too if you have friends who might enjoy this fun evening. 

See you there! 

-- 

Karen Paul Holmes

simplycommunicated.com

facebook.com/karenholmespoetry

COFFEE WITH THE POETS AND WRITERS IN HAYESVILLE

 This month we are happy to have Janice Townley Moore as featured reader at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Joe’s Coffee House, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. We meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 12.

Janice facilitates the NCWN-West Poetry Critique group that meets monthly at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC. An Atlanta native, Janice recently retired from Young Harris College in Georgia where she was a professor of English for many years. Moore taught creative writing and poetry at YHC, and her special areas of interest include contemporary poetry and Southern literature.

In addition to her teaching duties, she was chair of the YHC Humanities Division for eight years and served 12 years as poetry editor for the Georgia Journal, Moore claimed first prize in the 2009 Press 53 Open Awards and was awarded first place in the Georgia Poetry Society's annual competition in 2011.

Her work has appeared in more than 60 esteemed journals, anthologies and textbooks, including The Georgia Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Contemporary Appalachia, Contemporary Georgia Poets, Women Writing in Appalachia and the Southern Poetry Review.

Janice Moore is author of Teaching the Robins, a poetry chapbook, published by Finishing Line Press in 2005. She is co-author of Like a Summer Peach, a great little book of recipes and poems.

Coffee with the Poets and Writers includes an Open Mic session. This is open to the public and anyone with an original poem or short prose piece is welcome to share it. We ask that prose pieces be no longer than 1500 – 1800 words.

Joe’s Coffee House is known for various kinds of coffee and tea. Water, soft drinks and bagels are available as well. Plan to stay for lunch with us at Angelo’s across the street. We want to get to know you.

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

Glenda Council Beall

Clay County Representative for NCWN West

glendabeall@msn.com

828-389-4441

www.glendacouncilbeall.com

https://www.facebook.com/glenda.beall

www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com

www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com

Chemical fragrances, scented products, perfume and cologne can be harmful to our health. Please do not wear them to classes I teach or to classes at my studio, Writers Circle around the Table. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. 

 

NC WRITERS NETWORK WEST JULY UPDATE

NC Writers Network West - updated July info for writers  interested in joining the NCWN West monthly poetry critique group. Also info about WRITERS NIGHT OUT, Join other writers, eat out and read your poems in the open mic reading.

Change of venue for Poetry Group July 2nd. 2015

Posted: 30 Jun 2015 08:21 PM PDT

The NC Writers' Network-West Poetry critique group facilitated by Janice Moore will not be held at Tri-County College in Murphy this month -July. The college is closed for the holidays. The group will meet, however, at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC at 6:00 p.m. Anyone who has trouble with steps  can enter at the end of the library across from the Post Office.  Observers are welcome. 

Join the Beebes for Writers’ Night Out, July 10

Posted: 30 Jun 2015 05:28 PM PDT

Husband and wife writers, Jo Carolyn and John Beebe, will entertain the audience with their fiction, poetry, and memoir.        An open microphone follows their reading for those who’d like to share their own writing. Writers’ Night Out, takes place at the Union CountyCommunity Center in Blairsville, GA on Friday evening, July 10. The event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks 

Living Above the Frost Line: MATRIARCH, PATRIARCH and The Family

Living Above the Frost Line: MATRIARCH, PATRIARCH and The Family

CLICK TO SEE ORIGINAL POST AND these amazing trees


Here in the southern Appalachian mountains, we have endured two brutal winters and before that, some years of drought. It is with sadness I tell you that those beautiful trees on the old Flemming/McConnell property at the foot of Cherry Mountain that I named "Matriarch" and "Patriarch" have died and fallen. It breaks my heart to drive past chunks of their bodies scattered around. The  younger trees are still there and still growing.

POETS GATHER IN THE SMALL TOWN OF HAYESVILLE, NC

On June 10, 2015, poets from  Hayesville and Murphy, NC and poets from the north Georgia Mountains met at JOE's for their monthly gathering of COFFEE WITH THE POETS.  This monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West, a 23 year old professional writing organization.

Each month a poet is featured. For June two practicing, published poets read their poems: Mary Ricketson of Cherokee County and Joan Gage of Clay County.

Mary Ricketson (left)is the author of two poetry collections: I Heard the River Call My Name ( Finishing Line Press) and Hanging Dog Creek ( FutureCycle Press).

Joan Ellen Gage (right) is the author of three collections: Embracing You Inner Cheerleader, Water Running Downhill and new off the press, A Redhead looks at Sixty.

"Personally, I would add that this was one

of the best poetry readings I've been

attended in quite a while,  with a wide 

range of topics, some most serious 

and most crushing, and others filled with 

joy and humor so that listeners shed a tear 

or two and  then later laughed until our 

tummies hurt. When it was over, each of us 

knew again what it is like to feel fully human."

--Nancy Simpson

And there was a surprise visit from 

Hayesville Mayor Harry Baughn. 

Coffee With the Poets was founded by Glenda Beall during her tenure as NCWN West Program Coordinator. Contact her for more information about
writing  events in the western NC mountains.http://www.ncwriters-west.org/

WRITERS' NIGHT OUT in conjuction with NC Writers Network West

Call for Poems, Essays and Stories by Women Writers Living in Western NC

Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham issuing…

A call for entries for our fourth (and final?) anthology of WNC women writers

It’s All Relative!

Family Noir or Family Extraordinaire

Send us your very best stories, essays, and poems—real or imagined, whichever is your bent…

We’re looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly—with emphasis of the ugly, the strange, the odd, the quirky, the peculiar—even the extraordinary, the  hilarious, the supernatural.

Dig deep. Go “underground.” But please submit your very best, most creative, well-edited work.

General guidelines:

Deadline: June 1. We are aiming for a fall “launch.”

Short is better—2000 words the absolute word limit—and no more than forty contributors

Send in Word doc or docx or rtf only. If we can’t open it easily, we won’t read it.

Use Times New Roman, 12 point font, double space, with one inch margins.

Previously published material is fine if you have the rights.

We reserve the right to edit accepted manuscripts, but do not wish to do heavy editing.

Include your bio of no more than 50 words.

Contributors will receive one complimentary copy and a reduced price on initial purchase/s.

Send material to Celia Miles at celiahoopermiles@gmail.com, as an attachment.

We know WNC has excellent writers. We look forward to hearing from you.

Celebrating Mother's Day a Week Early With Jeremy and Lynn

EARLY MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION --Getting high ( 5342 feet) with my children on the Appalachian Trail at Wayah Bald.

YOU ARE A WRITER AND YOU WANT TO TAKE A WRITING CLASS

Nancy Simpson recommends:

HELLO MOUNTAIN WRITERS, Here is a new writing class I highly recommend and it will be taught in Hayesville, NC. THE PRICE IS RIGHT, for sure.

Dana teaches at Writers Circle in  Hayesville, NC on April 25, Saturday, 10 - 1:00 p.m.

Words are all we have - title of Dana's class for all genre writers. 

$35.00 for three hour class. Contact Glenda Beall - glendabeall@msn.com 

Contact Glenda Beall, Writers Circle, nightwriter0302@yahoo.com 

Visit www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com - Writing Life Stories

Celebration of NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Held in Hayesville, NC

Coffee With The Poets, a program of NC Writers Network West celebratedNational Poetry Month with two featured readers, Glenda Barrett of Hiawassee, Georgia and Nancy  Simpson of Hayesville, NC on April 8, 2015. The event was held at Joe's Coffee Shop in Hayesville.

What a fun time. Thanks to all who where there.

Glenda Barrett, Glenda Beall, Carole Thompson, Bob Grove

NCWN West members and fellow poets

All living within driving distance are welcome to join NCWN West. 
http://www.ncwriters-west.org/ Serving writers in the western Carolina mountains. We are a 24 year old program of the statewide NCWN. 

TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YOU TOMORROW, YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY!

Celebrate National Poetry Month

This is National Poetry Month, and tomorrow, to celebrate, I will read some of my poems at Joe's Coffee Shop in Hayesville, NC. Because of a change in plans, Glenda Barrett, my long time friend and fellow poet from Hiawassee, Georgia will read also. Glenda Barrett is the most authentic  Appalachian poet writing in the mountains today.  She is the author of  WHEN THE SAP RISES and hundreds of individual poems.

Brenda Kay Ledford, also an outstanding Appalachian poet, known to you as "THE BLUE RIDGE POET,was scheduled to read, but had to cancel because of family matters. Please keep Brenda Kay in mind and her mother, our dear one Blanche Ledford, who is recovering from surgery. 

--Nancy Simpson

...AND A NOTE FROM GLENDA BEALL, founder of coffee with the Poets

We are happy that Glenda Barrett, artist, poet and writer from Hiawassee, Georgia will read with Nancy Simpson at Coffee with the Poets and Writers on Wednesday, April 8. Brenda Kay Ledford had to cancel and we appreciate Glenda Barrett stepping in at the last minute.

A long-time member of Netwest, Glenda’s work has been widely published. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Journal of Kentucky Studies, Woman's World, Farm & Ranch Living, Country Woman, Chicken Soup for the Soul and in anthologies, Lights in the Mountains and Echoes across the Blue Ridge. Her artwork is online at Fine Art America. Finishing Line Press, in 2008, published her poetry chapbook titled, "When the Sap Rises.”

Come and enjoy two experienced and well-loved local poets. Bring a poem or short prose to read at open mic. Bring a friend and enjoy Joe's delicious coffee and have a bagel with cream cheese. Joe has welcomed our writers to  his shop and I hope we will come out and show our appreciation.

Glenda Council Beall

glendabeall@msn.com

828-389-4441

www.glendacouncilbeall.com

https://www.facebook.com/glenda.beall

www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com

www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com

EVENTS AT YOUNG HARRIS COLLEGE

A message from Rosemary Royston

All:  Greetings!  I wanted to be sure you all are aware of the upcoming events we are having at YHC.  Edward Hirsch, prize-winning poet and president of the Guggenheim Foundation, will be reading on campus, Thursday, April 9th at 7 pm, Suber Banquet Hall in the Rollins Campus Center.  The event is free and open to the public.  We are thrilled to have Hirsch on campus.  You may find the press release here:  http://www.yhc.edu/yhc%E2%80%99s-annual-reece-lecture-feature-celebrated-poet-edward-hirsch

We are also hosting the Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival, beginning on Friday, April 10th and going through the weekend.  General admission is $20.00, and there is a large line-up of award-winning storytellers.  More information is here:http://www.yhc.edu/yhc-host-first-annual-georgia-mountain-storytelling-festival, and tickets may be purchased in advance here:http://www.eventbrite.com/e/georgia-mountain-storytelling-festival-april-10-11-2015-tickets-14172300733.

I hope you'll be able to join us for one or both of these events.

Thanks, and happy writing!

Rosemary

-- 

Rosemary Royston

https://theluxuryoftrees.wordpress.com/about/

COFFEE WITH THE POETS AT JOE'S COFFEE SHOP HAYESVILLE,NC

Coffee with the Poets April 8, 2015

Nancy Simpson

Brenda Kay Ledford

April is poetry month and there is no finer way to celebrate than attending Coffee with the Poets, a monthly event held at Joe’s Coffee Shop and Trading Post, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC. North Carolina Writers Network-West sponsors this event which meets at10:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 8, 2015.

Recently a visitor to our area said, "This should be on a list of things to do here!"

Two widely published local poets, members of NCWN West, Brenda Kay Ledford and Nancy Simpson, are featured on the program this month. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is open to the public at no charge. Bring a poem or short prose, 1000 words or less, and read at Open Mic. Joe’s Coffee shop serves fine coffees and teas, and snacks can be purchased.

Brenda Kay Ledford is a well-known poet and native of Clay County, NC. She holds a Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University. She has done post-graduate work in Appalachian Studies, and the theme of most of her writing is her Appalachian heritage.

Brenda received the Paul Green Multimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians seven times for her books, her collections of oral history, and her blog Historical Hayesville. Her work has appeared in Our State, Carolina Country Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Appalachian Heritage, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Journal of Kentucky Studies, Asheville Poetry Review, Country Extra Magazine, Blue Ridge Parkway Silver Anniversary Edition Celebration, and many other journals.

Finishing Line Press published Brenda’s poetry books: Shewbird Mountain, Sacred Fire, and Beckoning. She co-authored Simplicity with Blanche L. Ledford.  She is also an outstanding photographer as you can see on her blog, Blue Ridge Poet.

Nancy Simpson lives in Hayesville, NC. Through 2010 she served as Resident Writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She taught many of the poets and writers in this area in her classes there and at Tri-County Community College. She also taught poetry for ICL at Young Harris College.

Nancy is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems (Carolina Wren Press, 2010). She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a BS in education from Western Carolina University. She received a NC Arts Fellowship and co-founded NC Writers Network-West.

Simpson’s poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review, New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and others. Her poems have been included in anthologies, Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and Literary Trails of N.C. (2008). Her poems have also been featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press.

Visit her blog, Living Above the Frost Line to learn more about her.  

Contact NCWN West Representative, Glenda Beall, at 828-389-4441 or glendabeall@msn.com  for information.

Just Write class taught by Karen Paul Holmes

Important message to my writing students and fellow writers, 

Many of you have asked me about writing classes, when am I going to teach again and can I suggest a class. It is not likely that I will ever teach again although I want that more than anything. I still work with writers privately. The good news here is that I am suggesting an excellent week long writing class, at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, JUST WRITE, to be taught by 

Karen Paul Holmes at the John C. Campbell Folk School. If you live in one of the surrounding counties, you can get the class at half price. One-on-one coaching is her speciality. The focus of this class is YOU, your ideas and time for you to actually get some writing done, complete the project you want to finish, or start the new project you have been putting off. The class begins Sunday May 3, 2015. Register now. Call for more info. 1 800 Folkschool, (828) 837 2775 or 365 5724  
Photo of Ms Holmes under the Poet Tree at the Folk School.



Here is the class description:

Just Write
A prompt a day will keep you writing away…or bring your own ideas and finally have time to write what you've been itching to write. We'll dig into a magic bag of inspiration including nature walks, music, and favorite poems or passages by favorite writers. Self-editing tips and one-on-one coaching will help make your pieces stronger. Ideal for poetry, memoir, or short-fiction writers of all levels. 
https://classes.folkschool.org/class_details.aspx?pk=17708

Hugs and happy spring,

Karen

-- 

Karen Paul Holmes

 

simplycommunicated.com

facebook.com/karenholmespoetry

Author Steve Harvey will Speak Saturday in Hayesville.

Nonfiction Author Dr. Steven Harvey will Speak in Hayesville

Saturday, March 28, 4:30 p.m. Joe’s Coffee House and Trading Post, in Hayesville, NC will host Dr. Steven Harvey, author and University Professor, who will talk about his new memoir, The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about coming to terms with the suicide of his mother when he was a young boy. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

The book was published by Ovenbird Books as part of the “Judith Kitchen Select” series. A section of the memoir appeared in The Best American Essays 2013 selected by Cheryl Strayed. He is also the author of three books of personal essays. A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove and edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood. 

He is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at Young Harris College, a member of the nonfiction faculty in the Ashland University MFA program in creative writing, and a senior editor for River Teeth magazine. He is the creator of The Humble Essayist, a website designed to promote literary nonfiction. 

He lives in the north Georgia mountains. You can learn more about Steve and his work at his web site: www.steven-harvey-author.com .

This program is sponsored by Writers Circle around the Table. Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 for more information.

POETRY WORKSHOP AT WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

Dear Poets,

This is a special, intimate workshop--perfect for those of you who would especially like to write and share in a small group. It will be limited to thirteen participants and although we'll focus on poetry, it will be an inspiring gathering for all writers who want to pay close attention to language.

The Blue Mountains are a stunningly beautiful location--an ideal environment for inspiration and creativity.

If this sounds like the time and space for writing that you need, please join us!

Ellen BASS

THE WORLD SPLIT OPEN

A Writing New Poems Workshop

July 5-10, 2015

Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC

 

In 1968 the great poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote, “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?/ The world would split open.” This week all of us—men and women—will journey into that world of truth-telling.

But it isn't so easy to tell the truth. Not only do we need courage, but we need craft. As another great writer, Willa Cather said, "Only the artist . . . knows how difficult it is." And so we will study the craft together, reading model poems by contemporary poets and discussing central topics, such as the concept of discovery, image and metaphor, sentiment and sentimentality, and the power of sensory detail. We will engage our greatest resources—attention, precision, imagination—to bring our own new poems into being. We’ll strive for language that is accurate, fresh, and alive and we’ll learn strategies to help us write poems whose form, music, rhythm, diction, and meaning work together as a powerful whole.

With the inspiration of this gathering, expect to surprise yourself in making poems that are more vivid, more true, more beautiful and complex than you’ve ever written before. Both experienced and beginning poets are welcome, as are teachers of poetry. And because rich, textured, evocative language is the province of all writers, this workshop will be applicable to writers of fiction and memoir as well.

Levels: All
Class Size Limit: 13
Tuition: $795

For more information, email Norma Hendrix at norma@cullowheemountainarts.org.

Registration is now open for this workshop.

Click here to learn more and register

Please Note: Because The World Split Open workshop is limited in size, the registration, cancellation, and refund policies are different from other workshops at Cullowhee Mountain Arts. Registration must be accompanied by a 50% deposit when you register. Your full balance is due April 1, 2015. Registrations made after April 1, 2015 must be accompanied by payment in full. If you cancel before April 1, 2015 your payment will be refunded, minus your deposit. If you need to cancel for any reason after April 1, your payment will be refunded only if we can fill your space with someone from the wait list. Please let us know as soon as possible if you can’t come so we have the best chance of filling your space with another poet who would like to attend.

www.cullowheemountainarts.org

Cullowhee Mountain ARTS Office: 598 W. Main, Sylva, NC 28734 828.342.6913

Copyright © 2015 Ellen Bass, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to Ellen's email list. 

Our mailing address is:

Ellen Bass

c/o Jen Petras

249 West Park Boulevard

Medina, OH 44256