Orison Books, a nonprofit literary press based in Asheville, will hold a fundraising event at N.C. Stage Co. on Saturday, Aug. 3, 7 p.m.
The event will feature award-winning novelist Jacinda Townsend and poets Bruce Beasley and Christian Detisch. Local singer-songwriter Thomas Kozak will also perform.
Townsend is the author of three novels: Trigger Warning (forthcoming in 2025); Mother Country, recipient of The Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence; and Saint Monkey, recipient of The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and The James Fenimore Cooper Prize and named the 2015 Honor Book of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She also teaches in the Master of Fine Arts program at Brown University.
Orison Books, founded in 2014 by local poet Luke Hankins, is a primarily volunteer-based organization. “Orison” is an archaic word for prayer. The mission of the press is to offer spiritual literature from a range of perspectives that encourages contemplation rather than reinforcing ideology. By doing so, it aims to bridge the gap between literary publishers, which do not tend to focus as much on the spiritual, and the narrower ideology of strictly religious publishers.
The press has garnered a national readership and has published nearly 50 titles. Despite this, the future of the publication has come into doubt many times because of financial concerns, according to Hankins. Recent fundraising efforts have enabled the press to hire a part-time assistant to expand promotional efforts and assist Orison’s authors with planning book tours.
Orison books have won national awards and have been featured in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Poets & Writers, Foreword Reviews, Booklist, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Literary Hub and other publications.
This new fundraising effort is aimed at expanding the donor base to support a more robust organization. All ticket sales will directly benefit the press.
N.C. Stage Co. is at 15 Stage Lane. For more information, visit avl.mx/dzw.
Asheville Comedy Festival marks 16th year
The Wortham Center for the Performing Arts will host the annual Asheville Comedy Festival from Wednesday, Aug. 7-Saturday, Aug. 10.
This is the 16th year for the festival, which showcases both local and national talent. This year’s festival will kick off with Tom Segura, followed by over 30 other comedians who will perform as part of four showcases across the next three evenings. Segura will perform at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena on Wednesday. The showcases will take place at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday at 6 and 8:30 p.m.
In addition to the comedy shows, the festival will provide free entertainment industry panels and workshops, including a course titled “Taking Your Funny Behind the Camera” by Emmy Award winner and executive TV producer K.P. Anderson, an interactive comedy clip show workshop led by studio executive Jeff Tully, a marketing seminar by Brand Stage Consulting about creating a comedic pitch, and more.
The ExploreAsheville.com Arena is in Harrah’s Cherokee Center — Asheville at 87 Haywood St. The Wortham Center for the Performing Arts is at 18 Biltmore Ave. For more information, visit avl.mx/cvn.
Wolfe literary award seeks nominations
The Asheville Museum of History is accepting nominations for the 2024 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award until Friday, Aug. 16.
The award has been presented by the Western North Carolina Historical Association (now called the Asheville Museum of History) since 1955 and includes a cash prize of $1,000. Previous recipients of the award include Wilma Dykeman, Robert Morgan, Gail Godwin, John Ehle, Robert Brunk, Michael McFee, Lee Smith, Ron Rash, Wayne Caldwell, Charles Frazier and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle. David Joy was the recipient of the 2023 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for his nationally acclaimed novel, Those We Thought We Knew.
Any author who meets the qualification criteria can be nominated for the award. To be considered, an entry must be a published work of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry. It must be a first-edition work, published between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024. The author must be a WNC native or a resident for at least 12 months before the closing date, but a work may also qualify if it has a WNC setting or focus. Western North Carolina includes the Qualla Boundary and the following 23 counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.
Nominations should include three copies of the work and a cover letter that indicates the date of publication, the author’s birthplace or residence, and the setting of the work. An awards ceremony and reception in honor of the finalists and 2024 award recipient will be held in November.
The Asheville Museum of History is at 283 Victoria Road. For more information, visit avl.mx/dyn.
Mount Mitchell hosts annual crafts fair
The Yancey County Chamber of Commerce will host the Mount Mitchell Crafts Fair on Friday, Aug.2, and Saturday, Aug. 3, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
The annual craft fair dates to 1956 and takes place in the Burnsville town square. This year’s fair will feature over 175 artists and craftspeople. “A strict selection process guarantees a high standard of craftsmanship, with no mass-produced or resale items permitted,” says festival director Elaine Mann of the Yancey County Chamber of Commerce, in a press release. “Visitors can expect to find a wide variety of handmade goods, from intricate jewelry and textiles to beautifully crafted woodwork, ironwork and pottery.”
In addition to the vendor booths, there will be craft exhibitions, live gospel, country and bluegrass music on the town square stage and a performance by the cast of the Parkway Playhouse. Pets are prohibited due to safety concerns. The event is free, and food trucks will be on-site.
For more information, visit avl.mx/a3b.
Cherokee museum celebrates Indigenous culture
The Museum of the Cherokee People will host its annual Indigenous cultural showcase at The Cherokee Conference Center at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on Friday, Aug. 2, 6 p.m.
Since 2022, The Way We Connect with the World has featured Indigenous self-representation from musicians, filmmakers, visual artists and craftspeople. This year, attractions include six film screenings, a live musical performance and a market featuring art, apparel, crafts and jewelry by Indigenous artists.
Film presentations include The Great Cherokee Grandmother, a short film written and directed by Anthony Sneed, about a Caucasian woman and a Cherokee man on a date; Mothertown, a documentary short, also by Sneed, about reclaiming the Cherokee’s Kituwah mound; Inhabitants, a documentary directed by Costa Boutsikaris and Anna Palmer that follows five Native American tribes as they restore traditional land management practices across various regions of the country; The Language of Ribbon, a documentary short by Tia Panther about women in a small community in the North Carolina mountains; ‘ᏗᏂᏠᎯᎤᏪᏯ (“Meet me at the Creek”), a documentary short by Loren Waters about the irreversible destruction of Tar Creek and the Cherokee elder who fights it; and My Home NC/Cherokee Culture Meets Modern Fashion, a documentary short produced by Brooks Bennett that follows Luke Swimmer on his path from powwow dancer to Buffalotown Clothing designer.
Cherokee musician Agalisiga Mackey will perform a musical set singing original country-folk and blues songs in the Cherokee language. Mackey is a graduate of the Cherokee Language Master Apprenticeship Program, and his music reflects his struggles and joys as a member of the Cherokee community. His Tiny Desk Contest submission was recently selected as a standout performance by Julien Baker of Boygenius.
In advance of The Way We Connect with the World, filmmaker Waters will host a free storytelling workshop on Thursday, Aug. 1, 1-4 p.m. The workshop is open to aspiring filmmakers ages 15-22, with preference given to enrolled members of federally recognized tribes.
All of the festival events are free, and tickets can be reserved in advance.
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort is at 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee. For more information, visit avl.mx/dt4.
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