CHRIS ARVIDSON

words and art
 

Saturday, May 25, is Night of the Spoken Word here in Ashe County. An annual event, it spawned Wordkeepers and the Mountain Memoirs Anthology that Scot Pope, Julie Townsend and I began a few years ago.

The event starts at 7:30 at the Ashe Arts Center, here in West Jefferson. Come on out and hear many of the contributors to Mountain Memoirs. I'll be reading an essay I've been working on about baseball. Read More 

We're on the books again for 2013 WORDKEEPERS at the Arts Center in West Jefferson, NC. The highly successful (we think!) writers and listeners salon, now into its third year, continues to bring new writers and readers together.

Coming off our wonderful success with the book, "Mountain Memoirs," Scot, Julie and I are back at it. Once again, we had more new readers and more new listeners in December, and I've already received emails from new folks wanting to join us and read their work.

Here are the dates for 2013: Feb 23, April 13, June 15, Aug 17, Oct 19, Dec 21.

Come on out. It's casual, fun, and we have refreshments to get your courage up if you need them. Email me via this website if you want to sign-up for your 5-minutes of Wordkeepers fame. Read More 

Everyone out there who has ordered advance copies of Mountain Memoirs: An Ashe County Anthology, check your mailboxes! The books have shipped from the publisher in Charlotte. Of course, you can go order one now, too, on our website (mountain-memoirs.com) or on Amazon, if you didn't order it early. And, they've got some at the Ashe Arts Council, or see Scot Pope or Ron Joyner at the Ashe County Farmers Market as well. In short -- they're out there  Read More 

It's here! There are boxes stacked up in my laundry room. Each one has 44 copies of "Mountain Memoirs: An Ashe County Anthology inside. Thank you, Henry, for carrying them in the house. I drove to Mint Hill to pick them up at the publisher this morning. So happy we have books in hand for the big launch next week at the On the Same Page Literary Festival (www.onthesamepagefestival.org).

Wow. It feels tremendous to hold this puppy in my hands. The cover, featuring fellow editor Scot Pope's photo, is really beautiful. And it's got my frickin' name on it and everything.

I am very proud of myself today.

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