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Juniper Bends Reading Series

  • Story Parlor 227 Haywood Road Asheville, NC, 28806 United States (map)

Tickets $16 in advance / $20 day of
Students can attend for free with proof of current student ID, but MUST RSVP in advance
here

Doors at 7pm | Show at 7:30pm
Story Parlor | 227 Haywood Road
Parking & Policies

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase. All shows, unless specified, are ages 16+.

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Juniper Bends, a quarterly reading series curated by Locke Hunter and Alli Marshall, features poetry, prose, and music from established and emerging writers and artists.

This month features: Brit Washburn, Jasmine Pittman Morrell, Tony Robles, and Ann Harris, with musician Belly Full of Stars. Books will be available for purchase, and the authors will sign them. 

Students can attend for free with proof of current student ID, but MUST RSVP at the above ticketing link.

Featuring….

  • Brit Washburn is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at Interlochen Arts and of Goddard College in Vermont.  The winner of two consecutive Albion Prizes for Poetry, judged by the poets Gary Snyder and Ai respectively, Brit's work has appeared in Art MagThe Albion Review, Alexandria Quarterly, Controlled Burn, Culture-Keeper, The Dunes Review, Earth's Daughters, Foreword Magazine, Gratefulness.org, Guideword, Heartland Review, Manoa, and A New Song, as well as the anthologies, Mourning Our Mothers: Poems About Loss, A New Guide to Charleston, The Wild and Sacred Feminine, and What Matters, among others The mother of four children ranging in age from nine to twenty-four, Brit is currently a student in the MFA Program at Virginia Tech. She is the author of the poetry collections, Notwithstanding (2019) and What Is Given (2025), both from Wet Cement Press, and of the essay collection, Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose (Alexandria Quarterly Press, 2023).

    Jasmin Pittman Morrell is a writer and editor who deeply believes in radical hospitality and the power of the imagination. She holds an MFA in narrative nonfiction writing from the University of Georgia, and her writing is featured in The Bitter SouthernerOxford AmericanMeeting at the Table: African-American Women Write on Race, Culture and Community, and Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic. Jasmin has taught creative nonfiction at Lenoir Rhyne University and also supports Family Voices--a creative writing mentorship program for BIPOC children in Asheville. 

    Tony Robles is a poet and author originally from San Francisco, now based in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He is the author of three books of poetry and short stories, Cool Don't Live Here No More--A letter to San Francisco, Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike, and Thrift Store Metamorphosis. His writing has been published in numerous anthologies including, Of Color: Poet's Ways of Making, The Roadrunner Review, Growing Up Filipino Volume II, Mythium Journal, Bamboo Ridge, and many others. He earned his Masters in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2023.


    A long-time steward of the land, Ann Harris resides in a forest abutting the Blue Ridge Parkway, where she nurtures a deep connection to nature. Her co-residents are two teen sons, two trail-loving dogs, and a family of black bears. Her publications include an essay in Stronger Than the Storm: Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina and poetry in the forthcoming spring issue of The Great Smokies Review. She keeps busy by restoring the forest that was damaged by the hurricane as well as by helping folks find the motivation to keep striving. 

    Musical guest Belly Full Of Stars is the electronic sound project of Nashville-based composer and field recordist Kim Rueger. Blending FM synths and textural vocals with granular sampling and modular processes, she improvises pieces that veer ambient, reimagining sounds in the world around her into new aural landscapes. Kim has collaborated with artist and groups worldwide and across mediums on recordings, scores, soundscapes, and performances - notably as pianist with the Nashville Ambient Ensemble; creating her cycle-focused collaborative release, "Conjunctions", and interactive performance "Impulse!" with multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer Meg Mulhearn; and composing and performing collaborative live film scores with electronic artists Dream Chambers and Eve Maret. She has released recordings on Courier, Triplicate, Fallen Moon Recordings, and Past Inside the Present labels, with a new album of modular processed piano compositions on the way.

About Juniper Bends | Launched in 2009, Juniper Bends ran for 10 years before taking a two-year hiatus during the pandemic. Juniper nurtures the voices of new writers while providing a space for local established writers to showcase their work.