POETS AND WRITERS bloom and grow in far western North Carolina

Carroll Taylor, Lorraine Bennett, Marcia Barnes, seated at table with their new books.

When I see how many writers in our part of the state are publishing and selling books now, I am sure our NCWN-West founder, Nancy Simpson, would be all smiles. 

Twenty-five years ago, Nancy and I had the same goal. We wanted to make our local writers' names known throughout the state.

In the far south-western part of North Carolina in the southern Appalachian Mountains, this area was often forgotten as most natives and transplants thought the state ended at Asheville, a lovely town where tourists flocked every year. Sadly, this city recently suffered horrific damage from Hurricane Helene. Clay County where I lived for the past thirty years and neighboring Cherokee County were bypassed by Helene. 

Before I moved to Hayesville in 1995, the few serious writers in the area drove to Atlanta, a 2 1/2 hour trip, when they wanted to attend a meeting of writers, where they could share their work and get feedback. They were five or six teachers from Young Harris, GA and from Clay County, NC. One of them, Betty Sellers, eventually became Poet Laureate of Georgia.  

Today writers and poets meet every week in one of the local towns. The Moss Memorial Library has been a huge supporter of writers in Hayesville. But Georgia counties, Towns, Union, and Fannin, which are included in NCWN-West, also host writing groups. I am delighted that Coffee with the Poets and Writers which is a group I began as Program Coordinator the first time in 2007, is going strong and many new writers attend the free meetings and join NCWN, which makes them members of NCWN-West. 

Richard Cary, a member of NCWN-West, was featured at the December meeting of CWPW. His new poetry book is ready to order.

Brenda Kay Ledford will release a new book in the spring. 

David Plunkett recently published a book of poetry.

I know that Nancy is smiling as I am.