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. 

Poetry abounds in WNC, thanks to Nancy Simpson

I came to live in western NC in 1995 because my husband and I had always wanted to live in the mountains and near a body of water. Clay County was perfect for us. We found a house about a half mile from Lake Chatuge on the side of a mountain. Our view included the blue waters of the lake and the Georgia mountains on the far side. In fact we could look at Brasstown Bald the highest point in Georgia while we ate our breakfast each morning.

I did not expect my life to take such a turn when we moved here, but thanks to Nancy Simpson, a special education teacher at the local school, who was program coordinator of the North Carolina Writers' Network West, I found what I had always wanted; a writing organization, friends who were writers, and a kind soul who taught writing to people like me.

Nancy taught a night class at the local community college and it was always full. I took her class over and over. She has a masters degree from Warren Wilson College. I took a poetry class she taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School, trembling at the thought of having to read my work out loud. But, she was gentle while helping us learn to write better poetry.

I had been writing since I was old enough to read and hold a pencil, but I had no confidence in myself. Thanks to Nancy I was soon submitting my poetry for publication. That was over two decades ago. Nancy was never too busy to help me polish a poem. She named my chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, and I am delighted she chose that line from one of my poems as the title.

Nancy is having some health issues, and she can't read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers for our April meeting. April is Poetry Month and she usually is one of our featured poets. We look forward to her being back with us before long.

Another Clay County poet, Brenda Kay Ledford, was a student of Nancy Simpson in 1995 and she has published five books since then. She will read her poetry that speaks of her mountain heritage April 19th at Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC.

You can hear Brenda read in her unique voice in this interview on You Tube.




Our meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. We invite the public to attend and to bring original writing whether poetry or prose to share around our table.

NC Writers' Network-West sponsors this event. It is a program of the statewide NC Writer's Network. 
The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development.