April is coming: Love and poetry are in the air

APRIL 25 | Poetry

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April is National Poetry Month! The Fifth Annual Press 53/Jacar Press “Gathering of Poets” will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at the Historic Brookstown Inn in Winston-Salem. North Carolina Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson will read and there will be four workshops included along with an optional one on Sunday morning (April 26). Details and Registration at press53.com.

MARCH 14 | More Poetry

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Carolyn York, President of the NC Poetry Society, will speak at the next meeting of Pittsboro Writers’ Morning Out on Saturday March 14 at 1:00 p.m. (Yeah, I know, but they used to meet in the morning.) All writers, any genre, are invited. It’s held in the Barley Lounge at Carolina Brewery. Writers’ Morning Out is sponsored by the NC Writers’ Network and led by Al Manning. Check out the blog at pittsboro-wmo.blogspot.com.

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Two speakers, a looming deadline, and a significant cash prize awarded

March 19 | Allan Gurganus Bookends book club guest

Allan Gurganus, on whom I have a serious writer’s crush, will be the special guest at a meeting of Bookends book club on Thursday, March 19th at 4 p.m. The meeting will be at McIntyre’s Books, Fearrington Village, Pittsboro, NC.

Gurganus’ terrific collection of short stories, WHITE PEOPLE, will be discussed. For more information, call (919) 542-3030.


March 31 | Glimmer Train deadline looms

A March 31 deadline for Glimmer Train literary journal submissions is looming. The topic is “Family Matters” and the first place winner gets $1,500 and publication in Issue 96. Second prize is $500; third place gets $300.

The editors say they’re looking for stories “about families of all configurations.” Most submissions, they add, run 1,500-6,000 words but up to 12,000 words is acceptable. For details and to submit, go to glimmertrain.com/familymatters.html.

Ron Rash opens Reynolds Price Reading Series at Duke's Smith Warehouse Wednesday night

IMPORTANT

LITERARY EVENT

On Wednesday night, March 4, Ron Rash will be reading – it’s the inaugural event of a new reading series honoring former Duke University professor Reynolds Price.

Presented by the Duke University English Department, the reading will take place at 8 p.m. at Smith Warehouse, Bay 4 off Main Street and Buchanan Boulevard in Durham. It’s free and open to the public.

Rash will read from his new short story collection, SOMETHING RICH AND STRANGE, which Janet Maslin called “a magnum opus” in her NY Times review. The Times of London said, “Rash can create a character in a single sentence; this is the great American short story at its best.”

In addition to this collection, he has published five novels, the bestselling SERENA, as well as THE COVE, ONE FOOT IN EDEN,

Redbird Theater Company presents a festival of one act plays by North Carolina playwrights

Redbird Theater Company is presenting a festival of new one-act plays by North Carolina playwrights March 13-22 at the Carrboro Arts Center.

The plays include: PROPERTY by Dana Coen; THE FIRE OF FREEDOM by Howard L. Craft (inspired by the book by David Cecelski), LINNAEUS FORGETS by Marianne Gingher and Debby Seabrooke (adapted from the story by Fred