Poets and Writers at Folk School
By Glenda Beall

Al Manning, from Waynesville, N.C., calls himself the Resident Curmudgeon. He is reading his short stories and essays along with Glenda Barrett on August 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the John C. Campbell Folk School. The North Carolina Writers'Network West holds Writers and Poets Reading Poems and Stories on the usual third Thursday of the month in the Library of the Keith House. Manning is on the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writers' Network and is one of the Haywood County representatives for Network West. His newspaper columns can be read on-line at amanning. asapgroup.com His blog is at amanning.blogspot.com.

A native of western Oklahoma, Manning is a retired Navy officer and a retired instructor in microcomputer systems at Haywood Community College. He has a BA from Oklahoma State University and a MS from the University of Arkansas. You can find a sample of his work in the anthology, Lights in the Mountains, (see page 59, Eagle's Nest) the Smoky Mountain News and the Enterprise Mountaineer. His work has won awards in the Silver Arts Competitions.

Glenda Barrett is a widely loved poet and essayist. Her work can also be found in Lights in the Mountains. Red Wigglers, a beautiful essay about her relationship with her mountain grandmother was recently published in Smoky Mountain Living Magazine. Each time Barrett reads her stories and poems, she touches a heartstring, and often the audience finds itself laughing through tears.

Her work has been published in Woman's World, Farm and Ranch Living, Rural Heritage, Kaleidoscope, Nostalgia, Psychology for Living, in the anthology "In the Yard" and other magazines and journals.

Barrett is a native of Hiawassee, Georgia. Many local people know her as an artist as well as a writer. She worked for 20 years in the medical profession before retiring due to a neuromuscular disease. But her positive attitude and her faith has taken the lemon handed her and turned it to lemonade. She hopes to preserve her cherished mountain heritage through her writing and her art.

These two fine writers are brought to you by the NCWN West and the John C. Campbell Folk School. There is no charge for admission.