Join us for an evening poetry, prose, and story — with this month’s AVL Revue celebrating the theme "Lit Night" — shining the spotlight on some of the incredible literary groups and organizations right here in our own backyard.
We invite the group, and they invite the participating artist!
ARTIST LINE-UP
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Founded in 2017 by writers Heather Newton and Maggie Marshall, the Flatiron Writers Room is a literary center that sponsors creative writing workshops, retreats, author events, networking opportunities and co-working space for writers. The FWR is located in West Asheville’s vibrant Haywood Road corridor, providing space for writers to learn, teach, read, celebrate and, of course, WRITE. It was originally an outgrowth of the Flatiron Writers writing critique group, who have been writing and providing workshops and events for the western North Carolina writing community since 1993. The goal of the FWR is to nurture a vibrant and supportive writing community--inspired by Asheville’s rich literary history--while providing writers with quiet, affordable space in which to write, and classrooms in which to teach or participate in classes and workshops. Learn more at www.flatironwritersroom.com.
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Readings by….
A.K. Benninghofen has been a member of Flatiron Writers Group since 2010. She has both studied and taught at Flatiron Writers Room. A.K.’s work has appeared in Word Riot, Passages North, Evergreen Review, Monkeybicycle, Necessary Fiction, Deep South Magazine, the anthology A Book of Uncommon Prayer and elsewhere. Her stories have received Honorable Mentions for the Oaxaca International Literature Competition, the James Hurst Fiction Prize and the Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Fiction Contest. She has been a fiction contributor at Sewanee Writers' Conference, a writing fellow at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities and Wildacres Retreat. In 2012, she was awarded a Regional Artist Project Grant by the North Carolina Arts Council. Currently, she is at work revising two novels and a screenplay. In addition to writing, A.K. is an actor with a B.F.A. in Theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi. Recent credits include HBO’s The Staircase, Class of ‘09 on FX/Hulu, the Netflix feature film Pain Hustlers, and others. Coming up this month, she can be seen as “Margaret” in Hallmark’s A Biltmore Christmas.
Maryedith Burrell has turned her diverse talents into an award-winning career. Her numerous writer/performer credits include everything from Fridays and the iconic Seinfeld to The Tonight Show as well as an overall deal with Disney to script original TV and film. Her essay “An Affair To Forget” is part of the collection in What Was I Thinking? (St. Martin’s Press.) She has written for The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Vogue and numerous other publications, and her latest film, the documentary RAISE HELL: The Life And Times of Molly Ivins, is now streaming on Hulu and HBO Max. An improv veteran with The Groundings and Second City, she wrote and performed the play, #OUCH!: An Accidental Comedy, cited by The Times as a “Top 10 Must See” at the New York International Fringe Festival. Ms. Burrell is a proud teacher and member of Flatiron Writers.
Kim Winter Mako is originally from New Jersey and has a BFA in Drama from Syracuse University. After college, Kim lived in New York City for many years as an actor, and was a founding member of ATheatreCo., a non-profit theater company that produced primarily original plays. Kim is currently working as a professional actor in film and television. Locally, her short story “Drowning Allison” won the 1st place short fiction prize at Grateful Steps Publishing, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was published in their collection, Drowning Allison and Other Stories. Other local awards include the Ramsey Library Community Author Award at UNCA, finalist in the “Spirit of Sandburg” poetry contest, and a Regional Artist Project Grant. She’s also been published in The Great Smokies Review, done freelance writing for The Mountain X-press, has participated in the series, Listen to This: Stories in Performance, and is a proud past employee of Malaprop’s Bookstore (the coolest indie bookstore in the Southeast!). She is forever grateful to be a part of the Flatiron Writers. Other publication credits and honors include: The American Literary Review, Stoneboat, Sou’wester, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Nervous Breakdown, Ducts.org, Press 53 (prime decimal 59.3), The Citron Review, semi-finalist for the 2019 St. Lawrence Book Award for a story collection, and residencies at VCCA and The Weymouth Center. Professional acting credits include: Burden of Proof (HBO), The Resident (FOX), Law & Order (NBC), Line Sisters (Lifetime), The Wonder Years (ABC).
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The Great Smokies Writing Program is a joint effort between the UNC Asheville departments of English, Creative Writing, and the Asheville Graduate Center. The program offers opportunities for writers of all levels to join a supportive learning community in which their skills and talents can be explored, practiced, and forged under the careful eye of professional writers.
The program is committed to providing the community with affordable university-level classes led by published writers and experienced teachers. Each course carries academic credit awarded through UNC Asheville.
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April Nance is a native of Asheville. She serves as Sanctuary Coordinator and Founding Pastor’s Assistant at Haywood Street Congregation. As a writer, she is drawn to reflecting on how the universe is revealed through the details of our stories. Her work has appeared in The Dewdrop, The Creative Nonfiction Podcast Audiomag, Cold Mountain Review, and The Great Smokies Review, where her work received Editor's Choice designations on two separate occasions.
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Lit Local is owned and operated by local author Jacqui Castle, and the mission is simple: get the work of local authors into the hands of more readers. After noticing how common it is for local artists to have their work available at area establishments, just scan a Venmo code and go, she realized there was no reason the written work of local talent couldn't be that readily available.
Every book featured is written by an author who currently resides in Western North Carolina. The hope is to grow this business in a sustainable way that brings the literary community together and helps deliver our words to an audience that may never have found them otherwise. You can find Lit Local mini bookshops at Filo in East Asheville, PennyCup in Haw Creek, Gallivant in Woodfin, and here at Story Parlor.
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Some of the tales in David Allen Voyles' collections of original horror stories were those he told while conducting tours for his ghost tour company, Dark Ride Tours in Asheville. Playing the role of gravedigger/storyteller Virgil Nightshade, Voyles entertained guests as they were transported to various spooky sites in a 1972 Cadillac hearse converted for that purpose.
Having taught literature for thirty years, Voyles is no stranger to weird tales and horror fiction in general. In addition to publishing four books of his own and having stories published in various anthologies, he is also the creator of the Dark Corners podcast where he narrates many of his own eerie tales. Go to DavedAllenVoyles.com for info on his latest projects.
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Founded in 2009 in San Francisco and now based in Asheville, NC (with editors and contributors all over the US and abroad), The Rumpus is one of the longest-running online literary magazines around. Writers who we published early in their careers–including Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, Samantha Irby, and Ada Limón among many others–helped establish the magazine as a place to find great risk-taking writing. OVER 90% of the contributors we publish come through our no-fee open reading periods, which means they were not solicited and we’re often one of their first major bylines.We’ve been independent from the start, which means we’re not connected with any academic institution, wealthy benefactor, or part of a larger publishing company. The vast majority of the magazine’s funding comes from reader support. Our magazine is primarily volunteer-run and focuses on publishing emerging and historically underrepresented voices. We believe that literature builds community.
About The Rumpus: https://therumpus.net/
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Tessa Fontaine is the author of THE ELECTRIC WOMAN: A MEMOIR IN DEATH-DEFYING ACTS, a New York Times Editors' Choice; a Southern Living Best Book; a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick; a New York Post Most Unforgettable Book of 2018. THE RED GROVE, her debut novel, is forthcoming from FSG in May 2024.
Other writing can be found in Outside online, The New York Times, Glamour, AGNI, The Believer, The Rumpus, LitHub, Creative Nonfiction, and more. Raised outside San Francisco, Tessa has received awards and fellowships from Tin House, The Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, is a former professor and has taught in jails and prisons for five years. She co-founded and teaches the Accountability Workshops with writer and pal Annie Hartnett, with whom (plus Ellen O’Connell-Whittet!) she also co-hosts the podcast Good Moms on Paper. She currently lives in Asheville, with her husband, daughter, and derpy dog.
About Tessa: https://www.tessafontaine.com/
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Poetrio is Malaprop’s monthly poetry reading series coordinated by Mildred Kiconco Barya. For many years, Poetrio has showcased three poets with new publications every month, January through November. Due to a large influx of requests from poets, this monthly series now also includes Poet Quartet readings, showcasing four poets. These readings most reliably attract an enthusiastic and attentive audience for poetry. The events usually take place on the first Sunday of the month from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
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Brit Washburn is the author of Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose, a collection of essays published by Alexandria Quarterly Press in August of 2023, and of Notwithstanding, a collection of poems published by Wet Cement Press in 2019. She is a Montessori teacher, the mother of four, and teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. A lifelong reader, food-lover, and student of Eastern thought, Brit has a daily walking practice that takes her out of herself and into the natural world. Her work can be found in print and online via her website, www.BritWashburn.com.