SPECIAL EVENTS FOR APRIL AT THE BRANDY BAR + COCKTAILS:
WED 4/19 – 7-9:00 PM: NC Writers Network and The Brandy Bar + Cocktails present guest poets, Kelli Allen and Nicole Farmer as next in their program In the Company of Writers. The program offers a series of personal and conversational dialogues featuring guest writers/poets followed by an open mic forum. These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending. The guest author speaks from 7-8 PM with open mic from 8 -9 PM. The Chicago blues music of Mr. Jimmy welcomes you, continues during intermission, and closes the evening.
Kelli Allen’s work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies in the US and internationally. Allen is the co-Founding Editor of Book of Matches literary journal. She is an award-wining poet, editor, and dancer. Her fiction has appeared in The Best Small Fictions 2022 and she is the recipient of the 2018 Magpie Award for Poetry. Her chapbook, Some Animals, won the 2016 Etchings Press Prize. Her chapbook, How We Disappear, won the 2016 Damfino Press award. Her collections include, Otherwise, Soft White Ash, (Meduimless, 2012), Imagine Not Drowning, (C&R Press 2017), Banjo’s Inside Coyote (C&R Press 2019). Allen’s latest book is Leaving the Skin on the Bear, C&R Press, 2022. Allen moved from Changchun, China to her present residence in Clayton, NC that she shares with her two tiny rat-dogs (who think they are jackals) and one African pygmy hedgehog. When she is not editing and teaching writing and literature, she’s amateur chef-ing and traveling. website: http://www.kelli-allen.com
Nicole Farmer is a teacher and reading tutor living in Asheville, NC. Her poems have been published in over forty literary magazines. Nicole was awarded First Prize in Prose Poetry from the Bacopa Literary Review in 2020. Her chapbook entitled ‘Wet Underbelly Wind’ was published in 2022. Her book ‘Honest Sonnets: memories from an unorthodox upbringing in verse’ will be published by Kelsay Books in 2023. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Drama and spent 30 years in the theatre as an actress and director. She and her husband live in a one-hundred-year-old cottage with their grumpy Carin terrier, hoping their kids will come to visit. website: http://www.NicoleFarmerpoetry.com
This event occurs the 2nd Wednesday of each month and is co-sponsored by The Brandy Bar + Cocktails http://www.thebrandybar.com/and the North Carolina Writers Network. Sign-ups for the open mic visit: https://thebrandybar.com/writers-open-mic/
WED 4/19 – 4-9:00 PM: An evening of original songs in the natural acoustics and listening room atmosphere of the beautiful and historic Brandy Bar, 504 Seventh Ave. East, Hendersonville, NC 28792. Featured performers will be Mare Carmody, Carrie Morrison, and Andrew Thelston.
Mare Carmody is a voice of southern songwriting, having lived in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. Playing music has always been a way of life throughout her travels. Mare is currently part of the trio Carver Carmody & McIntire.
Melodic and memorable, Carrie Morrison’s songs make connections. A native of Louisville, Ky., the singer/songwriter/pianist has been a popular act in Western N.C. for more than 15 years. She is keyboardist and vocalist in the Andrew Thelston Band and enjoys duo collaborations with Andrew and cellist Jamie Leigh Bennett.
Andrew Thelston creates futuristic rock ‘n’ roll which echoes the past. In 2019, his original music was featured on the hit Netflix show “Lucifer,” and he was voted one of the top guitarists in the 2022 Best of WNC by the Mountain Xpress.
Hosting the event will be hosts Mare Carmody and Charlie Wilkinson. Location is The Brandy Bar + Cocktails, 504 Seventh Ave. East, Hendersonville, NC 28792, 828-845-0546. For more information, please contact us at: WNCsongwritersessions@gmail.com