Coming Soon

The Fall Meeting of the NC Poetry Society is Saturday 9/15 at Weymouth in Southern Pines. Many of you are already members of the Poetry Society, but if you're not, you should seriously consider joining. For the $25 annual membership fee, you are invited to the 3 annual events at Weymouth which include workshops, readings, and awards; you receive a copy of the annual awards anthology Pine Song; you can enter the annual contests at reduced or free rates; you can participate in NCPS workshops at other locations at reduced rates; and you receive the newsletter published 3 times a year. More than what you get, though, being a member of NCPS is about what you give. That same $25 helps fund the Society's newsletters, events, contests, workshops, and publications. It makes you a true patron of poetry in NC. To join, you can send me a check made out to NCPS or visit the website at ncpoetrysociety.org and use the PayPal link to complete your membership.

Second, the second Art of Poetry at the Hickory Museum of Art is Saturday, 9/15. I will be at the NCPS meeting, but thanks to Bud Caywood for filling in for me at HMA. Even in my absence, two of my poems will be there, as will PH and Writers' Night Out regulars Nancy Posey, Ann Chandonnet, John Womack, Doug McHargue, Mel Hager, Julian Phelps, Tony Rankine, and other area poets. The event starts at 2:00 and is free and open to the public.

Third, don't forget that the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event is scheduled for 2-4 on Saturday, 9/29 at Shari Smith's Working Title Farm in Claremont (4694 S. Depot St.). PH regulars Helen Losse, Kim Teague, Julian Phelps, John Bigelow, Nancy Posey, Dennis Lovelace, Doug McHargue, and Patricia Deaton will join me and others including Tony Abbott, David Poston, and Tony Ricciardelli to share poems about tolerance, diversity, peace, and sustainability. We have room for more readers, and lots more room for listeners.

Fourth, information about the 11/2 - 11/4 NC Writers' Network Fall Conference in Cary arrived today. A quick rundown of the options at this conference include the Manuscript Mart, the Critique Service, and the Marketing Mart; Keynote Address from PEN Award-winning short story writer Edith Pearlman; Master Classes with Elaine Neil Orr (nonfiction), Jill McCorkle (fiction), and Kathryn Stripling Byer (poetry); workshops with Shane Ryan (comedy), Paul Austin (memoir), Ben George (editors), Linda Rohrbough (marketing), Susan Woodring (fiction), Maureen Sherbondy (poetry), Sheri Castle (foodwriting), Howard Craft (drama), Jan Parker (reading), Eleanora Tate (writing for children), Clay and Susan Griffith (fiction), Phillip Shabazz (imagery), Nicki Leone and DG Martin (being interviewed), Anne Barnhill (historical fiction), Alice Osborn (book reviews), and AJ Mayhew (writing groups), David Menconi and Peter Holsapple (music writing); and panel discussions on self-publishing, writing for the Internet, and agents & editors.

Finally, I don't have a date for either yet, but the new Best of Poetry Hickory and my new book, Shadows Trail Them Home, will both be out in the next month or two. As soon as they are, I will schedule a release event for each of them. And, back by popular demand, I will be doing my "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Writing Poetry" workshop again in the Hickory area a bit later this fall. As soon as that is scheduled, I will be sure to let you all know.

So much good stuff going on. Don't blink or you might miss something.