The Read on WNC

Gail Godwin talks about Grief Cottage Asheville author Gail Godwin, now a Woodstock, NY resident, comes back home here Wed., June 14 to present her new novel, “Grief Cottage” at Malaprop’s Bookstore, 7 p.m. “Grief Cottage” is the story of an orphaned, sensitive, troubled boy, named…See More

Jun 13

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Jack J. Prather posted a blog post

First Woman NC Poet Laureate's Biography

A Biography of Late NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byerin Hendersonville Author's Six Notable Women of North CarolinaA biography of the late Kathryn Stripling "Kay" Byer of Cullowhee, 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…See More

Jun 9

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Julia Nunnally Duncan posted an event

Julia Nunnally Duncan at Marion Community Building

June 17, 2017 from 10am to 3pm

Julia Nunnally Duncan will be a featured author at the McDowell County 2017 Local Author Festival at the Marion Community Building in downtown Marion on Saturday, June 17 from 10-3. The event is sponsored by the McDowell County Public Library and is free and open to the public.See More

Jun 6

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Short-short Stories & Riddles posted a blog post

Mom's has-been groove in ghost-boy novel

Marcus, in Gail Godwin’s new novel, Grief Cottage, recalls his friendship with Wheezer, whom he’d once beaten up at school because Wheezer had exposed Marcus’ shameful secret about his mom. Now Marcus, age 10, is an orphan. His dad has always been unknown to him; and his mom has just died in a car accident. Relocated to his aunt’s beach house, Marcus, despite the safety of the place, finds himself in trouble. He’s communicating with a ghost. He’s having dreams about a non-existent older…See More

Jun 3

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City Lights Bookstore posted events

Joint Reading: Charles Dodd White, Gavin Dillard & David Dalton
July 22, 2017 from 3pm to 4:30pm
Donna Glee Williams to Present Her Second Novel
July 14, 2017 from 6:30pm to 8pm

Jun 1

City Lights Bookstore posted an event

Art of Awakening Shamanic Consciousness at City Lights Bookstore

July 28, 2017 from 6:30pm to 8pm

Linda Star Wolf will visit City Lights Bookstore on Friday, July 28th at 6:30 p.m. She will present her new book, Soul Whispering: The Art of Awakening Shamanic Consciousness. Master Shamanic Breathwork Practitioner, Nita Gage co-wrote the book with Linda Star Wolf. The authors explore how the art of Soul Whispering can help each of us understand why we experience our lives the way we do and shift from healing our wounds to embracing the process of transformation. This is a powerful new…See More

May 27

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Connie Regan-Blake posted events

Better Dads Festival
June 17, 2017 all day
Taking a Leap: An Evening of Stories with Connie Regan-Blake
July 21, 2017 from 7:30pm to 9pm

May 23

Mirra updated an event

Dada Maheshvarananda Launches Cooperative Games book at Malaprops Bookstore

May 27, 2017 from 7pm to 8:30pm

With a Foreword by noted author and activist, Bill Ayers, Cooperative Games for a Cooperative World by Dada Maheshvarananda, shows up how to work together to create unity, trust, and cooperation in making the small and big changes needed to create the world we want to see.Listen to this recent radio interview with Dada:https://drive.google.com/openDiane Donovan of Midwest Books says of…See More

May 20

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Mirra posted an event

Dada Maheshvarananda Launches Cooperative Games book at Malaprops Bookstore

May 27, 2017 from 7pm to 8:30pm

May 16

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City Lights Bookstore posted an event

Rosalind Bunn Storytime at City Lights Bookstore

June 24, 2017 from 11am to 12pm

Rosalind Bunn will return to City Lights Bookstore on Saturday, June 24th at 11 a.m. for a special storytime. Rosalind teaches at East Side Elementary in Marietta, Georgia. She has three grown children and a new grandson. Rosalind has co-authored three children's books with a dear friend, Kathleen Howard. Her newest book, Thunder & a Lightning Bug Named Lou, is illustrated by Angela C. Hawkins and was released in December 2016. Her other titles are Whose Shadow Do I See?, The Monsters…See More

May 13

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Short-short Stories & Riddles posted a blog post

I Have a Coin

I Have a Coin I have a coin I deem a treasure.One side bears the sign of extinction,And the other, an instance of nature.But it’s not a coin; it’s a seal,And the meaning of this distinctionIs the unbearable sadness I feelWith experience, or with closure. It seems like a double exposure,But the knowledge of impermanenceBleeds into the ideal likenessOf mortality in its eminence—To yield a vibrant pictureOf a creature’s essential brightnessAs it burns for life without censure. --Rob NeufeldSee More

May 12

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City Lights Bookstore posted events

Dan Pierce’s History of the Hazel Creek Community
June 9, 2017 from 6:30pm to 8pm
Garret Woodward’s Book of Bluegrass Interviews
June 1, 2017 from 6:30pm to 8pm

May 11

Gary Thomas Johnson is attending Kalen Vaughan Johnson's event

Kalen Vaughan Johnson debuts ROBBING THE PILLARS at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

May 20, 2017 from 7pm to 8:30pm

This signing event for my debut novel ROBBING THE PILLARS will also serve as a benefit for longtime family friend and WNC advocate for people with disabilitiesSee More

May 10

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Gary Thomas Johnson shared Kalen Vaughan Johnson's event on Facebook

Kalen Vaughan Johnson debuts ROBBING THE PILLARS

May 10

Kalen Vaughan Johnson posted an event

Kalen Vaughan Johnson debuts ROBBING THE PILLARS at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

May 20, 2017 from 7pm to 8:30pm

This signing event for my debut novel ROBBING THE PILLARS will also serve as a benefit for longtime family friend and WNC advocate for people with disabilitiesSee More

May 10

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Mark de Castrique posted a blog post

Hidden Scars - Sam Blackman and Black Mountain College

I don't know if this is true for my fellow writers, but proofing can be the most difficult part of the process. I received the ARC today for October's Sam Blackman Mystery and will begin the last review for typos or formatting errors that have eluded my editor, my copy editor, and myself. Amazing that there is always something that the brain "fixes" and we don't see.Hope springs eternal that the October release will be typo-free. The mystery is set against the historic backdrop of Black…See More

May 6

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January 2010 Blog Posts (15)

Appalachian Writers

I'd like to introduce you to Peggy Poe Stern-have you ever heard of her? I've only known her a few months-I believe she may be one of the best kept secrets of Western NC.

I stumbled onto Peggy's website one day-and once I realized she was an Appalachian Writer I began to click around-all of my clicking landed me on an excerpt from one of her books. I could not stop… Continue

Added by Tipper on January 30, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Great Smokies fiction classes unlock your inner writer

Almost everyone has dreams of being a writer. But moving those dreams out of the clouds and onto paper can be a real struggle. Sometimes the solid ideas just won’t come. In other cases, the ideas are within reach, but knowing how to structure those ideas into language and a format that other people might enjoy remains elusive.

While writing is ultimately a solitary pursuit, some instruction and feedback can smooth the process, helping you to keep moving toward your dreams instead of… Continue

Added by Caralyn Davis on January 26, 2010 at 4:17pm — No Comments

Creative juices frozen? Great Smokies poetry class zaps them into life

The mere thought of writing poetry can stir up buried, primal fears of failure and inadequacy. Normally stalwart people, brows pale and sweaty with visions of being unable to produce even a decent ending to “Roses are red, violets are blue,” lament: “Write poetry? I don’t know how! I’m not a poet!”

But every human being on the planet has the potential to be a poet, and writing poetry isn’t scary. It’s actually a useful process for awakening both your creativity and your love of… Continue

Added by Caralyn Davis on January 26, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Hog Killing In Appalachia

All one has to do is to take a walk through the local grocery store's meat department to see the variety it holds. Back in the day-before meat was so readily available-pork was the staple meat for most mountain families.

In the very early days-before the chestnut blight-most folks in Appalachia let their hogs free range and forage for their own food. After the blight, and as the land became more populated-folks kept their hogs closer to… Continue

Added by Tipper on January 23, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Home Again

Picking you up from the airport;

jet airliner bringing you home once again.

Waiting for the plane in the cold wind,

while the sun brings glory to the West.

How long has it been since I’ve touched you?

Almost a million miles ago it seems.

Absence doesn’t get any easier,

when your face won’t leave my dreams.

Seeing your smile, hearing your laugh;

they fill every room that you’re in.

Eagerly searching for… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 18, 2010 at 3:09pm — No Comments

Propositioning the Rich Italian

TITLE: Propositioning the Rich Italian

AUTHOR: Stephanie Morris

AUTHOR URL: http://www.stephaniemorris.webs.com

GENRE/THEME: Contemporary Interracial Romance

URL TO THE BUYING PAGE: http://www.bookstrand.com/node/805943

SERIES: Indulgence – Book 1 of… Continue

Added by Author Stephanie Morris on January 17, 2010 at 1:11pm — No Comments

Heartsick Over Haiti

The first news of the day was tough to take. Tragedy has once again come to the impoverished nation of Haiti. By now everyone following the news knows it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and that 80% of its people live in poverty.

What might not be remembered are the news reports from 2008 when the Haitian people were making cookies with dirt and oil and water. As food prices around the world began to rise, those were the only ingredients some caregivers could obtain to mix… Continue

Added by Kathleen Buerer on January 13, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Poetry

Even though I am not a poet, every so often I'll spit out a poem. Two of them were recently published: one in The Nervous Breakdown and the other in OCEAN Magazine (where I also have a photograph that accompanies another writer's poem). Always good to have an acceptance to give us a boost,

Added by Kathryn Magendie on January 10, 2010 at 8:56pm — 2 Comments

Here We Go Again!

It's time to wait with held breath while the publishers' editors look at my book (Secret Graces) to see if they like it. Time to pick out covers. Time to go over galley proofs. Time to anticipate release date. A year after TG's release and here I go again. I hope the book will be well received. It's a whole other critter when you write for a deadline that is months in the making instead of "having all the time in the world" to write a novel... egads!

But, it's all exciting, right?… Continue

Added by Kathryn Magendie on January 10, 2010 at 8:48pm — No Comments

Halls of the Dying

Late at night, when only a few ghost-like workers are stirring

I enter the hallowed halls of the dying.

Like a crypt, everything dark, I feel my way from doorway to doorway

hearing the groans and the cries of the dying.

Ghastly sounds reverberate through these forbidden caverns;

lost souls forever grasping for salvation.

Creeping along, my senses alert for hidden dangers

I pause in front of one room and

the smell tells me where I am.

Stepping into… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 9, 2010 at 10:44am — No Comments

Warren Wilson MFA lectures

I have been to two of the morning lectures offered by the Warren Wilson MFA this month (January 2010) and was blown away. This is exactly the kind of readings I have been looking for; rich and technical, with as much philosophy as craft. I have always wanted to be a part of this kind of dicsussion with other writers. It's very generous of the college to open these lectures to the public. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Who among you in the Asheville area would like to… Continue

Added by Jennifer McLean on January 5, 2010 at 3:57pm — 1 Comment

author benefits

Authors are finding it an attractive option to self-publish. However, the need for Medical Insurance and retirement is a major consideration. I have looked into International Medical Insurance options to see how authors in other parts of the world are handling this issue. Are there networks for writers that could provide a discount on… Continue

Added by Cindy Fallsen on January 4, 2010 at 5:13pm — No Comments

White Crosses

White crosses alongside the road

honoring the memory of the recently slain.

How did it come that these people died

here—what were they like, while they still lived?

Cars and trucks speed past obliviously,

ignoring the ghosts of the freshly passed.

Each one of us hopes that we’ll still be remembered;

long after we’re gone to the other side.

But what if no one

visited us or mourned?

Left us for dead,

our faces forever forgotten in… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 2, 2010 at 3:23pm — No Comments

Early Morning Departure

Driving you to the airport for an early morning departure,

Wind blowing the rain against the wipers of the truck.

Lifting your heavy bag it thumps on the pavement,

Wondering to myself just what you could have packed?

Ducking out of the storm, bursting into the check-in,

Runaway children caught in a moment of time.

Saying my farewells I look into your eyes;

Wishing you a safe journey, Godspeed to your kin.

Sharing one last long,… Continue

Added by Chuck Connors on January 2, 2010 at 3:19pm — No Comments

Happy New Year from the Blind Pig & The Acorn

As I look back over 2009 I'm happy with the progress made over on the Blind Pig & The Acorn site-mostly I'm thankful I have great readers who have made 2009 a banner year for the Blind Pig.

Each post I write in an effort to promote, preserve, and celebrate Appalachian culture and heritage is made better by the comments folks leave. Maybe they don't realize it-but each one is part…