From theater and live music to art exhibitions and literature, 2019 produces great works across genres.
Locally owned bookstores flourish in the region’s fertile literary landscape
In WNC, say bookstore owners, size doesn’t matter so much as a deep well of literary history and residents and visitors who simply love to read.
Xpress seeks student art, writing for 2020 Kids Issues
Have you ever been on or dreamed of going on a big adventure? Then you’re in luck! For Xpress’ 2020 Kids Issues, the theme is “My Big Adventure.” Deadline is Friday, Jan. 31.
Smart bets: Juniper Bends Reading Series
The event takes place at Downtown Books & News on Friday, Dec. 6.
Smart Bets: Bruce Steele
The Asheville-based writer discusses his new book, “One Day at Disney,” on Dec. 5 at Malaprop’s.
Regional authors discuss their work and offer inspiration to young artists
Award-winning journalist and creative nonfiction writer Latria Graham be joined at the Saturday, Nov. 23, Mountain of Words reading and discussion by author and editor Juan G. Sánchez Martínez and spoken-word artist Cara Forbes.
Smart bets: Jericho Brown
The poet reads from his latest collection, which is a finalist for the National Book Award, at UNC Asheville on Thursday, Nov. 14.
Smart Bets: Constance Lombardo and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
The North Carolina illustrators share their latest works at Malaprop’s on Nov. 10.
The N.C. Writers’ Network Conference returns to Asheville
Scheduled classes and workshops include sessions on writing of all kinds: Screenplays, poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and various elements of the publishing industry.
Smart Bets: Rubble Becomes Art
Pan Harmonia’s commissioned combination of music and poetry will be performed at Black Mountain’s St. James Episcopal Church on Nov. 8 and Asheville’s Biltmore United Methodist Church on Nov. 10.
Smart Bets: Ann Patchett
The acclaimed author reads from her latest work on Oct. 26 at Jubilee! Community Church.
Author Daniel Wallace will keynote Literacy Council fundraiser
A longtime resident of Chapel Hill, Daniel Wallace (who penned Big Fish: A Novel of Epic Proportions, which director Tim Burton made into a 2003 movie of the same name) was once the assistant director for the literacy council in that city. “I was in my 20s. It was a fluke, really,” says the author, […]
Smart Bets: Brian Lee Knopp
The Fairview-based author reads from a revised edition of his memoir “Mayhem in Mayberry” on Oct. 10 at Malaprop’s.
Smart Bets: Queer Girls Literary Reading
The Mothlight hosts the 11th annual showcase of established and emerging voices on Sept. 29.
The Flatiron Writers host a speculative fiction event
The need for representation led to the decision to put together an anthology of speculative fiction by black women. The book, ‘Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing’ has been hailed as an “outstanding anthology” by Publisher’s Weekly.
Smart Bets: Dale Neal
The local author reads from his new novel at Malaprop’s on Sept. 11.
Jaki Shelton Green and Charles Frazier headline Carolina Mountains Literary Festival
In all, the festival offers more than 40 separate events, with topics ranging from world building in science fiction to the ways music can inform poetry. And, while not all of the sessions involve travel, migration and immigration, many do.
Smart Bets: Jacqueline Osherow
The acclaimed poet will read from her work at UNCA on Sept. 3.
Community Heritage Festival celebrates an African American neighborhood
The East End/Valley Street Community Heritage Festival offers a celebration specific to that section of town and its past and present inhabitants. Organizers will recognize the oldest living residents of the neighborhood — one is a nonagenarian — and Aggie Jean Jackson, author of two books set in Asheville’s East End, will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of her works.
Miriam McNamara returns to Asheville to launch her new YA novel
Born in Ireland and raised in Virginia, the author first came to the Asheville area (which she called home for 17 years) as an undergraduate at Warren Wilson College.
Of mountains and men: New anthology surveys Appalachian nature writing
“We have to start looking at what is nature at this point? What is the nonhuman world?” maintains “Mountains Piled Upon Mountains” editor Jessica Cory. “We’ve affected the air, which affects everything else. We’re really getting to the point where we have to look at things a little differently.”