Readings by poets from the Wildacres Writers Workshop

4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road,Raleigh NC 27609

30 January, 2022

Description

Les Brown, Michael Gaspeny, Nancy Dew Taylor, and Joyce Compton Brown; moderated by Mamie Potter LES BROWN, a native of the mountains of North Carolina, is professor emeritus at Gardner-Webb University. He has published poetry and short stories in several journals, including Pinesong, Kakalak, Wild Goose Review, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Flying South, Poetry in Plain Sight and Avalon. Two of Les’s poems were nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize by the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poetry book, A Place Where Trees Had Names, was published by Redhawk Publications in 2020. He lives in Troutman, North Carolina. NANCY DEW TAYLOR's book of poems, Taking Flight, was published in 2015 by Ninety-Six Press and her chapbook Stepping on Air in 2008 by Emrys Press. Her newest collection is entitled Showing Face from Hermit Feathers Press. She won the 2011 Linda Flowers Award from the North Carolina Humanities Council for her group of poems, Mill Creek Suite, and the 2015 Porter Fleming Literary Award in poetry. Her poetry has appeared in The South Carolina Review, Emrys Journal, Tar River Poetry, Shenandoah, and Appalachian Journal and in various other literary magazines and anthologies. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina. After a long career of teaching, JOYCE COMPTON BROWN expanded her focus to include poetry, finding her subjects in the foothills, mountains and the deep and shifting landscape of the upcountry American South. She has published poetry in numerous journals and has won or placed in several contests. She relies on the encouragement of her artist-writer husband along with the comfort of their sweet cat. She is the author of three chapbooks: Bequest (Finishing Line Press), Singing with Jarred Edges (Main St. Rag), and Standing on the Outcrop (Red Hawk Press). She lives in Troutman, North Carolina. MICHAEL GASPENY's novella in verse, The Tyranny of Questions (Unicorn Press), dramatizes a suburban mother’s struggle to save her soul in the 1960s. Gaspeny’s has published two chapbooks, Re-Write Men and Vocation. He won the Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition and the O. Henry Festival Short Story Contest. Gaspeny has received the North Carolina Governor’s Award for Volunteer Excellence in recognition of his hospice service. He taught English and journalism for almost forty years, primarily at Bennett College and High Point University. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Information will be provided about this summer writing retreat at Wildacres Retreat Center in the North Carolina mountains. _________________Please note: All in-person events are subject to change. RSVP to be notified of changes and visit our website for information on our current COVID safety practices. Quail Ridge Books is an award-winning, independent bookstore serving Raleigh, North Carolina for 34 years. We love connecting readers with some of their favorite authors.