Calendar of Events

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Led by a certified Inward & Artward Creative Facilitator, Tikva Kingrea (RYT-200 ), this workshop will explore how spring is showing up in our lives—specifically deliberating on *delight.* Think ripe strawberries. Purple phlox spreading across a moss-rich garden wall. Your favorite sneakers, worn in and warm, piled by the front door, waiting for a neighborhood stroll. The spring season offers each of us a chance to step into our artistic practice with verve, sweetness, and a shaking off of winter hibernation. This workshop is designed to do just that.

We will deep-dive into understanding various poetic techniques, personal themes and voice, as well as have guided group and individual support. This is a “YES, I’LL TAKE TEN BOUQUETS OF TULIPS TO GO WITH MY WRITING” class. We will move gently while playing with creative ways to buoy confidence and craft.

This is a beginner friendly class for writers and yogis alike. Students taking the yoga portion are asked to bring their own mats and props.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

This National Poetry Month, turn your sparks of inspiration into beautiful poetry in an all-new poetry workshop led by Greenville Poet Laureate Glenis Redmond. Whether you’re just dipping your toes into the world of poetry or you’ve been penning verses for a while, this workshop is tailor-made for you. From brainstorming ideas to crafting captivating lines, Glenis will guide you every step of the way. Unleash your inner wordsmith and explore the magic of poetry with a true master.

The $125 registration fee is for admission to the three-part workshop taking place at 6:00 PM on April 11, 18 and 25. Please bring paper and your preferred writing tool with you. The workshop culminates in a reading during the final session where participants can invite a guest to enjoy their poetry progress.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Democrats need to be more actively messaging and to overcome the makers of fake news with the truth! Join this ongoing group of writers working together on Letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials. We’ll discuss the issues we care about most deeply and craft a plan to respond to events as they occur in real time.

The group meets the first and third Monday of each month for writing, responding to one another’s work, scheduling submissions, and exploring media outlets across the state.

“Rant with purpose. Support with facts. Propel action.” – Myra Schoen

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Congratulations to our Youth Spoken Word Contest winners:

 Eva S. — 11th grade at Carolina Day

 Tesslyn H. — 8th grade at IC Imagine Public Charter School

 Gabriella B. — 11th grade at School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville (SILSA)

 Lily A. — 9th grade at Madison Early College High School

Come experience these talented students perform with artist Dasan Ahanu, Tuesday, April 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Atelier Maison’s showroom. Admission is free; RSVP required. Drinks and light appetizers will be provided.

RSVP to [email protected].

Event location:

Atelier Maison Showroom

121 Sweeten Creek Road, Ste. 50

Asheville, NC 28803

About Dasan Ahanu: Christopher Massenburg, better known as Dasan Ahanu, is a public speaker, organizer, curator, educator, poet, spoken word artist, songwriter, emcee, and loyal hip-hop head born and raised in Raleigh, NC.

Sponsored by Atelier Maison.

Join the Dark City Poets Society for a free publishing workshop from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at the Black Mountain Library,105 N. Dougherty Street, Black Mountain, NC 28711. This workshop will be led by John Himmelheber, editor of Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, along with Ivy Rosen, editor of Black Mountain Press. Learn tips and tricks on how to get published and what the best practices are for submitting your work for consideration. This workshop is open to all ages, and no registration is required.

oin the Dark City Poets Society for a free publishing workshop at the Black Mountain Library!
This workshop will be led by John Himmelheber, editor of Smoky Blue Literary And Arts Magazine, along with Ivy Rosen, editor of Black Mountain Press. Learn tips and tricks on how to get published.

The Asheville Museum of History (Formerly the Western North Carolina Historical Association) announces David Joy’s Those We Thought We Knew as the winner of the 2023 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award

The Asheville Museum of History announces the selection of the winner David Joy for Those We Thought We Knew for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Finalists Erica Abrams Locklear, Elizabeth Giddens, Jennifer McGaha and Terry Roberts will also be honored at an awards ceremony Thursday, April 25, 6 p.m. at A-B Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium (19 Tech Drive). A reception will follow at the Asheville Museum of History at the Smith-McDowell House, 283 Victoria Road, Asheville, NC.

Originated by the Louis Lipinsky family, the Award has been presented annually by the organization since 1955 for printed works that focus special attention on Western North Carolina. To be considered, an entry must be a published work of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry and meet the following criteria:

1. It must be a first edition work; revised editions of published works will not be considered.
2. The publication date must have been no later than August 1, 2023.
3. The author must be a native of Western North Carolina or a resident of Western North Carolina for at least twelve months prior to the closing date for the Award.
4. An author may also qualify if the work submitted has a focus on or setting in Western North Carolina.

 The Western North Carolina Historical Association presented the first Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award to Wilma Dykeman in 1955 for The French Broad. Brent Martin won the 2022 award for George Masa’s Wild Vision: A Japanese Immigrant Imagines Western North Carolina. Other authors who have received the award include Robert Brunk, Wayne Caldwell, Wiley Cash, Charles Frazier, John Ehle, Gail Godwin, Michael McFee, Doug Orr, Ron Rash, Fiona Ritchie, Terry Roberts, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle and Lee Smith.

A prize of $1,000 accompanies the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award and will be awarded to David Joy, winner of this year’s award, at a ceremony at AB Tech’s Ferguson Auditorium (Fernihurst Drive, Asheville) on Thursday, April 25, 6 p.m. Each of the finalists will read a short passage from their work. There will be a reception at 7 p.m. at the Asheville Museum of History at the Smith-McDowell House.

This year’s finalists were chosen from an original group of more than 35 nominations.  The finalists, listed below in alphabetical order, encompass a broad range of genres and forms.

• Erica Abrams Locklear Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People
• Elizabeth Giddens Oconaluftee: The History of a Smoky Mountain Valley
• David Joy Those We Thought We Knew (Winner of the 2023 Thomas Wolfe Literary Award)
• Jennifer McGaha Bushwhacking: How to Get Lost in the Woods and Writer Your Way Out
• Terry Roberts The Sky Club

The Award Panel this year consists of: Catherine Frank, Chair, Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville; Wayne Caldwell, author and former Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award winner; Dee James, professor emeritus, UNC-Asheville; and Jim Stokely, President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy.

For more information visit https://www.ashevillehistory.org/literaryaward/ and https://www.simpletix.com/e/thomas-wolfe-literary-award-tickets-167349#location

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Start off Poetry Month at the Library with a celebration of Dolly Parton’s lyrics at the Fairview Library.

What could the songs of legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton teach us about writing, craft, and perspectives in poetry? In this in-person workshop, poet Dustin Brookshire guides participants through exploring the discography and cultural impact of Dolly Parton. We’ll use this as inspiration for writing new poems via thematic prompts.

This free workshop will be Tuesday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fairview Library.

Our facilitator, Dustin Brookshire is the recipient of the 2024 Jon Tribble Editors Fellowship awarded by Poetry at the Sea and is the co-editor of Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology (Madville Publishing, 2023), which was named to the 2024 Books All Georgians Should Read list by the Georgia Center for the Book.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Democrats need to be more actively messaging and to overcome the makers of fake news with the truth! Join this ongoing group of writers working together on Letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials. We’ll discuss the issues we care about most deeply and craft a plan to respond to events as they occur in real time.

The group meets the first and third Monday of each month for writing, responding to one another’s work, scheduling submissions, and exploring media outlets across the state.

“Rant with purpose. Support with facts. Propel action.” – Myra Schoen

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Democrats need to be more actively messaging and to overcome the makers of fake news with the truth! Join this ongoing group of writers working together on Letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials. We’ll discuss the issues we care about most deeply and craft a plan to respond to events as they occur in real time.

The group meets the first and third Monday of each month for writing, responding to one another’s work, scheduling submissions, and exploring media outlets across the state.

“Rant with purpose. Support with facts. Propel action.” – Myra Schoen

Greg Lobas will lead a virtual writer’s workshop titled: “Writing Your Life into Poetry.”

“Write what you know” is one of the first and best maxims for the aspiring writer. But what if “what you know” is ordinary, even mundane? This workshop will look at ways to mine the gold that is in everyone’s life and turn it into poetry. It may take some digging. It may take a little change in perspective. But it is there, and it is material only you can use. We will focus on the narrative poem as a means of story-telling but will consider the lyric poem as well.

This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels and is a fun way to find inspiration from a new prompt or revise current work. It is hosted by the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara and will Zoom for the virtual connection. Sign up to attend the workshop at workshop here:

Greg Lobas has been published extensively as both an outdoor writer and a poet. His debut book, Left of Center, won the 2022 Dogfish Head Poetry Prize, and placed second in the Delaware State Press Association awards. The book deals with his real life experiences as a fire captain and paramedic. His poems have been published in many journals. He is an experienced poetry workshop facilitator at Isothermal Community College.
Greg lives with his wife Meg and his dog Sophie in Polk County North Carolina.

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Democrats need to be more actively messaging and to overcome the makers of fake news with the truth! Join this ongoing group of writers working together on Letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials. We’ll discuss the issues we care about most deeply and craft a plan to respond to events as they occur in real time.

The group meets the first and third Monday of each month for writing, responding to one another’s work, scheduling submissions, and exploring media outlets across the state.

“Rant with purpose. Support with facts. Propel action.” – Myra Schoen

Dark City Poets Society is a completely free poetry group that is open to writers of all ages and experience levels.
Join us at the Black Mountain Library from 6:00-7:30 pm on the first Tuesday of every month for our (respectful) feedback group.

FREE. Meets in the garden weather permitting.

5 week series. Every Wednesday from 6:30-8:30, beginning June 5. Class cancelled July 3. Ending July 10.

Poetry is the written act of paying attention. Paying attention to words, rhythm, and writing but most importantly the worlds that inspire you to write. Namely, your world.

“Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” -Charles Simic

Have you ever swooned at the thought of exploring your full expression, only to shuffle around the house more determined to rearrange mothballs than get something on paper?

Poetry is undoubtedly a practice, but it doesn’t have to be an intimidating sport for Creative Gods alone. The only “ask” is to take note and notice of your life.

We’ll help develop the work itself, together.

This full-bodied beginner’s poetry class will help you shift from “Oof, I could never…” into “Wait, where’s my journal?!” by tuning into your world: to the color palette of grass, to coffee-shop conversation, to the twitch in your left elbow. If you want language for the volcanic prayers of your soul or to describe your partner’s voice whispering “I love you” at 4am, we’ll get there. This class weaves the elements of poetry, forms of poetry, guided discussion with peers, and the works of prolific poets all into a multidisciplinary play space. Plus, oodles (oodles!) of writing time to build personal confidence and craft. This class immerses itself in artful experimentation across mediums, paired with a toolkit of technical writing skills. It’s the ultimate permission slip to be a beginner.

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” -Carl Sandburg

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM

Saturdays from 10:30 AM – 12 PM