Wed 5/11 – 4-9:00 PM – $5 sangria specials – Sauvignon Blanc with fresh orange and pineapple slices, fresh squeezed juices. 
Wed 5/11 – 7-9:00 PM The Brandy Bar +Cocktails hosts THE KAKALAK writers in the continued series “In the Company of Writers.” This is a series of personal and conversational dialogues featuring guest writers/poets followed by an open mic forum. The Chicago blues music of “Mr. Jimmy,” welcomes you, continues during intermission and closes the evening. Open-mic sign-ups are 6:30 – 7:00 pm and guest authors begin at 7:00 – 8:00 pm with open-mic readings from 8:15 – 9:00 pm. These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending. The next in the series features the following poets from the Kakalak Writers Group:
Kathy Ackerman is an administrator and Writer-in-Residence at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, North Carolina. She lives on a loblolly farm-in-progress at the true edge of Polk County. Her 2019 collection of poems, A Quarrel of Atoms, was awarded the Lena Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. Her other books include Coal River Road, The Heart of Revolution, and three poetry chapbooks.
Kathleen Calby, a former corporate communications consultant, has shifted her use of language to poetry. She began publishing her work in 2019, and her poems appear or are forthcoming in numerous literary journals as well as the 2021 Pinesong Awards Anthology. Awarded a Gilbert-Chappell mentorship in 2021, she is currently organizing a book of poems for publication.
Kenneth Chamlee, a 2022 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the North Carolina Poetry Society, has two contest-winning chapbooks: Absolute Faith and Logic of the Lost, as well as a forthcoming book of poems, If Not These Things (2022). His work appears in many journals and his poetic biography of American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, The Best Material for the Artist in the World will be published 2023.
Ginger Graziano’s poems and short stories have been published in The American Journal of Poetry, Stone Voices, Embodied Effigies and The Conium among others. She is also the author of the memoir, See, There He Is. As a graphic designer and writer, she has worked on projects such as reports for the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. She is also a visual artist.
Karen Luke Jackson is an award-winning poet. Her stories and poems appear in numerous journals, and she is the author of the chapbook GRIT and a full-length collection The View Ever Changing. She holds a doctorate in education and has spent much of her career facilitating leadership and contemplative retreats.
Susan Lefler, author of Rendering the Bones, received her MFA from Queens University, Charlotte, NC. Her poems appear in NC Literary Review, Asheville Poetry Review and many others. She served as contributing editor and managing editor for Smoky Mountain Living magazine. In 2017, she started a non-profit called Democracy Project of Transylvania, working with local middle schools.
Nancy Swanson taught high school English and Creative Writing and finished her career with eight years at Clemson University. Her poetry has been published by Broad River Review, Comstock Review, Chattahoochee Review, and English Journal, among others. She and her husband live in Pisgah Forest, where they pursue their passion for hiking.
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-up for the open mic at: https://thebrandybar.com/writers-open-mic/