Calendar of Events

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November.  Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand-new novel.

If you are doing NaNoWriMo this year, the Buncombe County Public Library wants to support you in your endeavors. Join us for the following virtual events throughout the month to keep you invigorated and motivated. All events are free, but you do need to register. To sign up, visit the Library’s event calendar and click on the event on the calendar. Additional events may be added, so be sure to check back throughout the month.

Virtual Come Write-In
Thursday, November 4, 7-8pm

Come Write-In virtually with encouraging BCPL librarians and other writers! We would love to write with you in a Zoom Room.  We’ll have some prompts and space for discussion and encouragement, but mostly this will be a time to schedule yourself for some dedicated writing time while others on the call do the same.

Virtual Come Write-In
Tuesday, November 9, 7-8pm 

Come Write-In for this librarian-led, hour-long, writing sesh! We’ll have timed word sprints, optional word prompts, and overall good vibes as we all work toward our NaNoWriMo word counts. So drop in, hang out, and get those creative juices flowing!

Virtual Come Write-In with Author Rebecca Petruck
Tuesday November 16, 7-8pm          

Come Write-In with local author Rebecca Petruck. Rebecca Petruck is a Minnesota girl, though she also has lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, England, Connecticut and, currently, North Carolina. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UNC Wilmington. Petruck’s novels are published by ABRAMS/Amulet. You may visit her online at www.rebeccapetruck.com and on Twitter at @rebeccapetruck.

You Wrote a Novel, So Now What?
Tuesday November 23, 7 pm 

Imagine that it’s December 1. You’ve finished NaNoWriMo and you have a book that’s ready to get out into the world. Congratulations! What do you do next? In this webinar, BiblioLabs Community Engagement Manager Emily Gooding will show you how to format your novel by using the PressBooks resource available to you for FREE from the library.  You will also learn how you can submit your novel to the Indie Author Project and have a digital version of your novel available to readers in the Library!

Virtual Come Write-In
Thursday, November 30, 7-8pm

This will be our final Virtual Come Write-In event for 2021. The focus of this online writing session, hosted by local author and librarian Alexandra Duncan, will be writing sprints and last-minute support.

The Asheville Art Museum is proud to partner with Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP) and Visual AIDS to participate in Day With(out) Art 2021 on Wednesday, December 1 by presenting ENDURING CARE, a one-hour film featuring seven new videos highlighting strategies of community care within the ongoing HIV epidemic. ENDURING CARE will be on a continuous loop throughout the day in the Museum’s multipurpose space on Level 1.

The program features newly commissioned work by Katherine Cheairs, Cristóbal Guerra, Danny Kilbride, Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad and Uriah Bussey, Beto Pérez, Steed Taylor, and J Triangular and the Women’s Video Support Project. The program is free for Members or included with general admission.

In addition, posters located throughout the Museum will share HIV-related statistics and data. Each of the five posters contains a QR code that links to audio recordings of related conversations between HIV+ individuals living in Western North Carolina.

Write Queerly is a chance to celebrate our unique perspectives and experiences through writing. We’ll start with a warmup activity such as a poetry reading/quote to reflect on or with a queer writing prompt. Then we’ll have free-writing time; you can work on your novel, write a poem, journal: write anything you like! We’ll close with sharing our writing (if you want to) and our plans for writing until we meet again next month!

This event is for people of all skill levels: whether you’re a Poet Laureate or a grocery list savant, all are welcome!

Suggested Topic: Writing action scenes in your story using narrative, dialogue, pacing, and ???

The addiction crisis in America has reached a new boiling point, and courageous people – at all levels, from all walks of life – are rising to answer the call. Tipping The Pain Scale is a feature documentary film following individuals grappling with the current systemic failures of how we have dealt with addiction in communities and their journey to develop and employ new, innovative, and often controversial solutions to the problem. It is a quasi-anthology, weaving characters through their own stories as they connect to the issues plaguing all communities and the country in an urgent fight to save lives.

Tipping the Pain Scale has received the following awards and recognition:

• 2021 Best Documentary Feature Nominee at Orlando Film Festival
• 2021 Social Awareness Winner at Orlando Film Festival
• 2021 Best Feature Documentary Nominee at Las Vegas International Film & Screenwriting Festival
• 2021 Official Selection at Maui Film Festival
• 2021 Semi-Finalist at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival

This film features Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh; NFL Pro Bowl player Darren Waller; spoken word artist Joseph LMS Green from Washington, DC; WA State Representative Lauren Davis; Community Outreach Volunteer Roz Pichardo in Philadelphia; and Boston Police Officer Joshua De La Rosa.  with Music from Sia.

To view the trailer, please click here.

Official Website

Free outdoor movies on our giant LED screen are always a hit with all ages.  Rabbit Rabbit is a huge outdoor venue with enough space to accommodate 3000 people, so we have plenty of seats for everyone!

Free outdoor movies on our giant LED screen are always a hit with all ages.  Rabbit Rabbit is a huge outdoor venue with enough space to accommodate 3000 people, so we have plenty of seats for everyone!

The WNC Historical Association presented the first Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award to Wilma Dykeman in 1955 for The French Broad. Last year’s winner was Dr. Sandra Muse Isaacs for her work, Eastern Cherokee Stories: A Living Oral Tradition and Its Cultural Continuance. Other authors who have received the award include Charles Frazier, Robert Morgan, John Parris, Gail Godwin, John Ehle, Robert Brunk, Michael McFee, Lee Smith, Ron Rash, Wiley Cash, Wayne Caldwell, Fiona Ritchie, and Doug Orr.

A prize of $2,500.00 accompanies the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award and will be virtually presented to the author on Thursday, December 9 at 6:30pm during a live Zoom event that will include readings by the finalists. Please reserve this date.

The Award Panel this year consists of: Catherine Frank, Chair, Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville; Daniel Clare, English Department, A.C. Reynolds High School; Dee James, professor emeritus, UNC-Asheville; Leslee Johnson, English Department, UNC-Asheville; Tom Muir, Historic Site Manager, Thomas Wolfe Memorial; Gordon McKinney, professor emeritus, Berea College; Terry Roberts, Director, National Paideia Center; and Jim Stokely, President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy.

This year’s finalists were chosen from an original group of 40 nominations. The finalists, listed below, encompass a broad range of genres and forms.

Mary Othella Burnette

Lige of the Black Walnut Tree: Growing Up Black in Southern Appalachia

Wayne Caldwell

Woodsmoke

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

Even As We Breath: A Novel

Vicki Lane

And the Crows Took Their Eyes

Matthew Wimberley
All the Great Territories

Kids ages 5-12 are invited to join YWCA Aquatics for Float with a Flick: A Parents-Night-Out Indoor Pool Party!

When: Friday, December 10th from 5:30 pm to 7:45 pm (Film screens at 6pm)

Where: YWCA’s indoor pool: 185 S. French Broad Ave, Asheville, NC 28801

Details:

• The movie will be Frozen II
• The movie will start at 6 pm, open swim is available before from 5:30-6 pm
• No food or drinks are allowed on deck and masks must be worn outside of the pool at all times
• Children who can’t touch the bottom will need to wear a life jacket.
• Please pick up your child by 7:45
• NO floats allowed.

Cost: $5.00 per child. Families do not need to be members of YWCA to register!

Register online HERE or contact Kitty Schmidt at [email protected] or (828) 254-7206 ext. 115.

Free vinyl soundtrack to the first 200 through the door
All Ages
FULLY SEATED