Article by Lucy Gratton - Rice and Beall read at JCCFS

JOHN CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

              On Thursday, August 21, 2014 at 7:00 PM, John Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network West are sponsoring The Literary Hour, an hour of poetry and prose reading held at Keith House on the JCFS campus. This is being held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise notified.  The reading is free of charge and open to the public.  Writers Estelle Rice and Glenda Beall will be the featured readers, both of whom are well established poets in the mountain area. 

    

ESTELLE RICE

Estelle Rice, author of Quiet Times, a book of poetry, is a well-published writer whose short stories have appeared in The Appalachian Heritage Journal, the Journal of Kentucky Studies, and in anthologies and magazines, including Lights in the Mountains and Echoes Across the Blue Ridge.

She is a native North Carolinian, born in Rock y Mount and raised in Charlotte. She now lives in Marble, NC. Estelle received her BA in psychology from Queens University in Charlotte and a MA in counseling from the University of South Alabama. She is a retired Licensed Professional Counselor. Although she is a full-time caregiver for her husband now, she still attends writing workshops and continues to create poems and stories. Her poetry has been published in The Back Porch, the Freeing Jonah series and others.

Estelle has been a member of  the North Carolina Writers’ Network West for many years and has endeared herself to her friends and co-writers alike.

GLENDA BEALL

Glenda Beall’s poems, essays and short stories have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines including, Reunions Magazine, Main Street Rag, Appalachian Heritage, Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, The Dead Mule, School of Southern Literature and Wild Goose Poetry Review. Her poems have been anthologized in Lights in the Mountains, The Best of Poetry Hickory Series, 2011, Kakalak: North Carolina Poets of 2009, and Women’s Spaces, Women’s Places, among others.

Glenda enjoys writing articles for newspapers on subjects that are important to her such as indoor air pollution and spaying and neutering pets. She supports animal rescue shelters with her articles. She  taught memoir writing at John C. Campbell Folk School for several years. She also teaches writing at Tri-County Community College.

Glenda served as program director of North Carolina Writers’ Network West in 2007 and 2008, and is now Clay County Representative for NCWN West.  Glenda is author of  NOW MIGHT AS WELL BE THEN, poetry published by Finishing Line Press, and she compiled a family history,  PROFILES AND PEDIGREES, THOMAS CHARLES COUNCIL AND HIS DESCENDANTS, published by Genealogy Publishing Company.

Glenda is Owner/Director of Writers Circle where she invites those interested in writing poetry or prose to her home studio for classes taught by some of the best poets and writers in the area.  Find her online at www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com and www.profilesandpedigrees.blogspot.com

Outstanding poets and poetry at Writers Night Out August 9

Rosemary Royston and Karen Paul Holmes, both well-published poets, will read from their new books at this month’s Writers’ Night Out at the Union County Community Center in Blairsville, GA. The two plan to do a coordinated reading, alternating their poems on similar subjects. The event takes place on August 9 with a social hour at 6 p.m. (dinner available for purchase) and reading at 7 p.m.  An open microphone follows for those who’d like to read their own writing. The public is welcome to this free event.

Karen Paul Holmes, founder and host of Writers’ Night Out, is a freelance writer, poet and teacher whose new poetry collection, Untying the Knot, was recently released by Aldrich Press and is available on Amazon. It’s a story of loss and healing, written, as one reviewer put it, “with grace, humor and without a dollop of self pity.” Holmes teaches at Writer’s Circle in Hayesville, NC, and the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. She also hosts a poetry workshop in Atlanta. Publishing credits include Poetry East, Atlanta Review, POEM, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and the Southern Poetry Anthology Vol 5: Georgia. She won a poetry grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation in 2012.

Rosemary Royston holds an MFA in Writing from Spalding University and teaches at Young Harris College. Her poetry chapbook, Splitting the Soil (available through Finishing Line Press and Amazon) has been described as “Spiritual, sassy, smart, and so sure for a first collection.” Her poetry has appeared in many places, including Southern Poetry Review, The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Town Creek, KUDZU, New Southerner, Dark Sky Magazine, and the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia. Two of her essays are included in Women and Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland). 

Writers’ Night Outis sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and normally takes place on the second Saturday of the month (third Saturday in October). Prose writers or poets wishing to participate in the open mic can sign up at the door to read for three minutes. The four-year-old event recently moved at the Union County Community Center at Butternut Creek Golf Course, 129 Union County Recreation Rd., Blairsville, Georgia 30512, off Highway 129 near the intersection of US 76, phone (706) 439-6092.  Signs will be posted to direct attendees to either the upstairs ballroom or A-B conference room for the event. For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com.

Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken on giving poetry readings

While reading on the Poets and Writers blog, I came across this post by Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken. The subject is about reading poetry aloud and how you can often see what is wrong with a poem by reading it aloud. She also discusses planning for a reading. I like what she says, so I am including the link to her post. 

http://www.pw.org/content/one_for_the_cause_washington_state_poet_laureate_kathleen_flenniken

What do you think? How do you plan for a reading? If you aren't a poet or writer, do you go to hear readings? 

Ray Bradbury video reading a poem

This is how a poet should read his/her poetry. In the video on the side bar, the late science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, laughs at himself and has the audience in his hands before he reads a wonderful poem he wrote about space.
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