Join us on Sunday afternoon in Sylva, NC

The North Carolina Writers' Network and NC Writers' Network-West are honoring Kathryn Stripling Byer this Sunday. 

Read more here.

Fly With Me from Old Mountain Press is filled with good writing

​Fly With Me  is the latest title from Old Mountain Press. Tom Davis has been publishing these anthologies for a number of years. I am impressed with the poetry in this issue dedicated to Kathryn Stripling Byer, 1944 – 2017.

FLY WITH ME, a poetry and prose anthology

The first poem is by Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of North Carolina.  We know Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham as writers and editors of several anthologies filled with women writers. In this anthology, both have written poems, The Great Blue Heron by Miles and Dillingham’s Gnat Smoke. These poems are filled with great imagery.

The theme of this anthology is nature and Brenda Kay Ledford’s poem, Tiger Lilies, fits the bill. In her poem, How to Rest in the Afternoon, Mary Ricketson helps us slip away from life’s struggles while we lie in a hammock and view the world from a different perspective..

A touching and beautiful poem by Staci Lynn Bell, August 24, Summers End 1994, is one of my favorites. Marcie Behm-Bultz , in her poem, Drive South, takes us on a ride through the backroads of Edisto in South Carolina. “The backroads of Edisto are lined with summer’s cotton fields.” I can almost feel the heat and smell the air on that drive.

Marian Gowan wrote a simple flash fiction piece about a strapping Paul Bunyan type fellow who stops his work high in a tree he was in process of removing. He asks for paper towels but it was not for a cut or wound. He needs it to save a bird’s nest with babies in it.

The last short piece in Fly with Me is by Gene Vickers who was one of my students. The title is Hit and Run and ends with a twist that catches the reader off guard.

The poets and authors in this book have been published in other journals or anthologies.  Some are regularly found in Old Mountain Press publications.

You can purchase  a copy at http://www.oldmp.com/anthology/flywithme.htm or on Kindle. 

Old Mountain Press Anthologies are open to previous contributors or someone recommended by a previous contributor. Previous contributors may recommend up to two people per anthology.

Locals - don't miss Writers' Night Out, Friday Sept 8, 7:00 p.m.

It's almost time... Writers' Night Out:  Friday, Sept 8, 7 pm Featured readers: Richard Krawiec and Karen Paul Holmes Followed by open mic Union County Community Center, Blairsville, GA - see signs posted about what room we're in New menu at the all-new View Grill (arrive by 6 if you'd like to eat) Richard Krawiec is an author, playwright, and founder of Jacar Press. Karen Paul Holmes, is founder of Writers' Night Out, poet, and freelance writer. For open mic: Sign up at the door to read 3 minutes of poetry or prose. (If you're a prose writer, feel free to leave us with a cliff hanger. We love that). About Krawiec's work: “She Hands Me the Razor [poetry] is an edgy and satisfying marriage of tenderness and well-honed attentiveness to the connections, often fraying, among people and the various places in which they find themselves, both physically and emotionally..." -  Kathryn Stripling Byer Of the novel, Time Sharing, “Possesses an engaging, off-beat humor…and considerable poignancy. First rate satire. Genuinely touching.” - Richard Eder of the L.A. Times About Holmes's poetry collection, Untying the Knot: The poet's "voice pushes readers forward into the unknown with confidence, precision, and empathy."  - Dorianne Laux  Click here for the flyer. If you can, please print and post the flyer where interested parties can see:

Cheers, Karen Karen Paul Holmes www.simplycommunicated,com www.facebook.com/karenholmespoetry