• Local poetess extraordinaire Barbie Angell holds an official launch party and book signing for her collection of children's poetry and illustrations, Roasting Questions. The event takes place at The Hop Haywood Rd. location on Friday, Dec. 14. 7-9 p.m. Free.

• Keith Flynn, founder and editor of Asheville Poetry Review, writes that the following poems from the review's 2012 issue have been selected as nominees for the forthcoming Pushcart Prizes:
1. "That Summer," by Sara Dailey
2. "Heading Home," by Becky Gould Gibson
3. "Carmina Burana," by Travis Mossotti
4. "Supply Tent," by Seth Brady Tucker
5. "Plumbed Wine," by Charles Harper Webb
6. "Albrecht Durer: The Martydom of the 10,000," by Rebecca Seiferle

• And more happy news from a UNCA news service missive: "Richard Chess and Katherine Min [pictured] of UNC Asheville’s literature faculty were both awarded prestigious honors this fall semester. Chess was named Western Region Distinguished Poet by the North Carolina Poetry Society and its Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. Min was named the winner of the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award."



• Runnel returns: We told you about children's book The Adventures of Runnel, The Ice Bear when it was published in '08. (Read a review here.) Author Mark R. Leaman recently got in touch to let us know the book is now available for Kindle and Nook. Says Leaman, "I took the opportunity to revise the stories and also added a new one, as well as some new artwork from my daughter."



• Local pediatrician Olson Huff (chairman of the Committee on Federal Government Affairs for the American Academy of Pediatrics) is not only a celebrated advocate for the health and safety of children, but an author. His children's book, Why the Clown Wouldn’t Smile, was recently published by independent publishing house, Grateful Steps. "The circus is not succeeding. No wonder the clown won’t smile! But a boy on crutches, wearing a funny hat with a green feather in it, has a solution to the problem. Fortunately the circus master listens": This is Grateful Steps' description of the book. Buy it at Grateful Steps' store.