Calendar of Events

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

On March 11 2022, the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium arena will be transformed into a beautiful cruise ship, complete with food, drinks, a live band, sports bar, game room, auctions and much more!

This year we are cruising to Scotland!

Dancing | Silent and Live Auctions | Food Buffets

Tables (for 10) are $1,000 and Individual tickets are $75. If you are interested in purchasing a table or being a sponsor, please contact Susan Spires at (864) 573-7684 or [email protected].

Carolina Ballet Theatre will pick up the spring season with a beautiful performance of Arabian Nights, which follows the escapades of an American sailor named Sinbad on his day off. Full of adventure and inspired by the movie Invitation to Dance, Arabian Nights is choreographed by Artistic Director Hernan Justo and Associate Artistic Director Anita Pacylowski-Justo.

Led by Stewart/Owen Dance Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this open level adult contemporary dance class gradually awakens the body and senses through guided improvisation and a follow along warm-up, followed by foundational across-the-floor exercises and center-work combinations. All experience levels welcome!

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots. They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Led by Stewart/Owen Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this class begins with full body conditioning followed by a series of technical modern exercises, and culminates in either phrase creation or Stewart/Owen repertory. Dancers are encouraged to modify for their own bodies and spaces! We recommend this class to experienced dancers who are looking for a fast-paced contemporary class that pushes their physical and mental boundaries.

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots.They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Join us outside on our plaza for a free community event of performance and artmaking! We recognize that art can serve as a source of healing and point to more restorative solutions to critical community issues. Creative expression offers us the ability to process and unite. In conjunction with our loan of Félix González-Torres’ installation Untitled (L.A.) in Ruminations on Memory and in collaboration with community partners, we aim to provide a safe and welcoming space for all to reflect/connect.

Reflect/Connect presents poetry readings, dance performance, and audio recordings, as well as an opportunity to participate in collaborative artmaking.

12:00-12:45pm: Poetry reading, dance performance, audio recordings

12:45-2:00pm: Collaborative artmaking

Poetry readings: Readings by a select group of high school students participating in week-long poet-in-residence programs, Power of Youth, led by Torre White.

Dance performance: Watch the performance or be part of it! Register for the free re-connect movement workshop on 3/5/22 to participate in a cathartic experience of collaborative dance making and performing with Kathy Leiner and the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre. Participants are invited to perform the movement created in this workshop as part of the community event Reflect/Connect.

Collaborative artmaking: Create art with Liz Williams of Campaign for Southern Equality’s Southern Equality Studios! Individual artworks will be used together to create a community-based vision board that will take the form of a healing tapestry that speaks to the future while reflecting on the past. You can also view tapestries previously created by groups from Stephens-Lee Recreation Center, Western North Carolina Aids Project, Queer Artists Meet-Up, and Asheville School.

Generous funding for this program is provided by Art Bridges.

Carolina Ballet Theatre will pick up the spring season with a beautiful performance of Arabian Nights, which follows the escapades of an American sailor named Sinbad on his day off. Full of adventure and inspired by the movie Invitation to Dance, Arabian Nights is choreographed by Artistic Director Hernan Justo and Associate Artistic Director Anita Pacylowski-Justo.

Carolina Ballet Theatre will pick up the spring season with a beautiful performance of Arabian Nights, which follows the escapades of an American sailor named Sinbad on his day off. Full of adventure and inspired by the movie Invitation to Dance, Arabian Nights is choreographed by Artistic Director Hernan Justo and Associate Artistic Director Anita Pacylowski-Justo.

Carolina Ballet Theatre will pick up the spring season with a beautiful performance of Arabian Nights, which follows the escapades of an American sailor named Sinbad on his day off. Full of adventure and inspired by the movie Invitation to Dance, Arabian Nights is choreographed by Artistic Director Hernan Justo and Associate Artistic Director Anita Pacylowski-Justo.

Get moving in this fun, high-energy dance class focusing on Broadway-style choreography. Lay the foundation of jazz technique through warm ups and across the floor, and practice picking up steps and style in theatre dance combinations inspired by a variety of musicals. Join us to get a weekly workout, learn how to fill your movement with character, and step into your next dance audition feeling confident. Masks are required. 

Instructor: Anna Kimmell

Notes: To ensure the safety of our students and staff, we require that all participants and faculty wear masks during indoor classes.

• 

  An All-Ages Hip Hop Dance class led by LEAF  Schools & Streets Master Teaching Artist Otto (Aquaboogy) Vazquez. Get up and get your body moving every Thursday at LEAF Global Experience, with this great family-friendly, fun class!

  Weekly on Thursdays from 2:00 – 3:00pm at LEAF Global Experience (19 Eagle St, Asheville, NC, 28801)

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

Natanya Ann Pulley is a Diné writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her clans are Kinyaa’áani (Towering House People) and Táchii’nii (Red Running into Water People). She’s published work in numerous journals including Split Lip, The Offing, Waxwing, and As/Us. Anthologized essays can be found in Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics, #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women, Women Write Resistance, Shapes of Native Nonfiction and most recently The Diné Reader.

Masks are required of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

UNC Asheville’s Department of English welcomes P. B. Parris Visiting Writer and author Natanya Ann Pulley to the Mountain Suites in Highsmith Union for a reading and talk as part of their spring Visiting Writers Series.

Natanya Ann Pulley is Diné and her clans are Kinyaa’áani (Towering House) and Táchii’nii (Red Running into Water). Her short story collection With Teeth was the winner of the 2018 Many Voices Project competition through New Rivers Press and published in October 2019. She’s published stories in The Massachusetts Review, Phantom Drift, Split Lip, and The Offing (among others). Her most recent anthologized essays are included in Shapes of Native Nonfiction and The Diné Reader. Natanya is the founding editor of Hairstreak Butterfly Review and an assistant professor of English at Colorado College where she teaches texts by Native American writers, Fiction Writing, and Experimental Forms in Ethnic Literature. She is at home in the mountains and the desert, and she loves collage, low-stakes crafts, and her many families including the pack of once-wolves in her home. Online publications can be found at natanyapulley.com.

This is the second of three events in the 2022 Spring Visiting Writers Series presented by the UNC Asheville English Department. Additional events include a reading and talk from Dinty Moore on February 7, and a reading and talk from bestselling author Nadia Owusu on March 29.

Additional information may be found at english.unca.edu/engage/visiting-writers-series/

Community Expectations

As members of this community, we care about everyone. Faculty, staff, students, and visitors have a shared commitment to take the necessary precautions to avoid spreading COVID-19 while following all recommended health guidelines. Please see UNC Asheville’s Community Expectations. Masks are required of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

Led by Stewart/Owen Dance Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this open level adult contemporary dance class gradually awakens the body and senses through guided improvisation and a follow along warm-up, followed by foundational across-the-floor exercises and center-work combinations. All experience levels welcome!

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots. They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Led by Stewart/Owen Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this class begins with full body conditioning followed by a series of technical modern exercises, and culminates in either phrase creation or Stewart/Owen repertory. Dancers are encouraged to modify for their own bodies and spaces! We recommend this class to experienced dancers who are looking for a fast-paced contemporary class that pushes their physical and mental boundaries.

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots.They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Get moving in this fun, high-energy dance class focusing on Broadway-style choreography. Lay the foundation of jazz technique through warm ups and across the floor, and practice picking up steps and style in theatre dance combinations inspired by a variety of musicals. Join us to get a weekly workout, learn how to fill your movement with character, and step into your next dance audition feeling confident. Masks are required. 

Instructor: Anna Kimmell

Notes: To ensure the safety of our students and staff, we require that all participants and faculty wear masks during indoor classes.

• 

  An All-Ages Hip Hop Dance class led by LEAF  Schools & Streets Master Teaching Artist Otto (Aquaboogy) Vazquez. Get up and get your body moving every Thursday at LEAF Global Experience, with this great family-friendly, fun class!

  Weekly on Thursdays from 2:00 – 3:00pm at LEAF Global Experience (19 Eagle St, Asheville, NC, 28801)

All are invited to join St. John in the Wilderness for any or all of our Lenten Series sessions, to take place each Thursday evening in Lent. The evenings each have three offerings, all of which are open to the public with adults and youth most welcome. You do not have to be present for all three portions of the event to participate. See below for details.

​

• Evening Prayer at 6:00 in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall

• Dinner at 6:30 in the Parish Hall – RSVP required below – $8/person or $20/family of 3+

• Program from 7:00 to 8:00 in the Parish Hall, or join via Zoom with RSVP

​

Our Lenten program this year will be led by the Sisters of the Community of St. Mary. These Episcopal Nuns live at their convent in Sewanee, TN and are members of a monastic movement that goes back to 1865 when their order was started in New York. The sisters will take turns sharing with us the richness of their ancient monastic way of life. Together we will learn about their Benedictine way of living that includes prayers, work, radical hospitality, rich community, accountability, and more. While many think of monks and nuns as being something restricted to the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church has a long history of monastic life that continues to influence our churches to this day.

For the first session on March 3, we will host the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sister Madeleine Mary, who will travel from Sewanee to be with us. Sister Madeleine Mary has been living in religious life for over 50 years having entered the cloister after teaching middle school in New York and spending time advocating for environmental justice issues.

In the sessions following on March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, and April 7, we will meet in person at the Parish Hall to gather for a virtual visit with other Sisters from the Order, including Sister Hannah Winkler, who made her life profession in January 2021, and Sister Elizabeth Grace, who will share on the Rule of St. Benedict’s emphasis on humility. You may also participate on Zoom for any of the sessions, but we will hope you will join us in person if you can. Click here to sign up to be emailed a Zoom link.

All are also invited to join us for Evening Prayer in the Atrium Chapel of the Parish Hall at 6:00pm on each Thursday in Lent (March 3 – April 7). Dinner follows at 6:30pm in the Parish Hall. RSVP and pay for dinner by clicking one of the boxes below by Tuesday of each week so food is not wasted. Masks will be required except when eating.

Sister Madeleine Mary will also be preaching at St. John in the Wilderness on Sunday, March 6, at the 8:45 and 11:00 services. Please join us as we journey through Lent together.

For more information:
https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/about
https://www.facebook.com/communityofstmarysouth/

Beginner’s workshop lesson at 7:30 P.M., then 8-11 P.M. Contra Dance with Country Waltzing at the break and the final dance. This is a partner dance but it’s not necessary to come with a partner. We have different live bands and callers.

Led by Stewart/Owen Dance Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this open level adult contemporary dance class gradually awakens the body and senses through guided improvisation and a follow along warm-up, followed by foundational across-the-floor exercises and center-work combinations. All experience levels welcome!

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots. They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Led by Stewart/Owen Co-Directors, Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart, this class begins with full body conditioning followed by a series of technical modern exercises, and culminates in either phrase creation or Stewart/Owen repertory. Dancers are encouraged to modify for their own bodies and spaces! We recommend this class to experienced dancers who are looking for a fast-paced contemporary class that pushes their physical and mental boundaries.

In person: $10, pay at the door

Online: $7 suggested donation, contact [email protected] for class link and details.

About Stewart/Owen Dance: Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-directors of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance. Their choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them around the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work towards building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots.They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom. Gavin and Vanessa won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted “Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body” by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and a guided walk-along dance exhibit presented in residence with Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Get moving in this fun, high-energy dance class focusing on Broadway-style choreography. Lay the foundation of jazz technique through warm ups and across the floor, and practice picking up steps and style in theatre dance combinations inspired by a variety of musicals. Join us to get a weekly workout, learn how to fill your movement with character, and step into your next dance audition feeling confident. Masks are required. 

Instructor: Anna Kimmell

Notes: To ensure the safety of our students and staff, we require that all participants and faculty wear masks during indoor classes.

UNC Asheville’s Department of English welcomes guest bestselling author and memoirist Nadia Owusu to the Laurel Forum in Karpen Hall for a reading and talk as part of their spring Visiting Writers Series.

Whiting Award-winning author Nadia Owusu is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. She was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in Italy, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, and Uganda. Her first book, Aftershocks, A Memoir (2021), topped many most-anticipated and best book of the year lists, including The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Vogue, TIME, Vulture, and the BBC. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.

This is the final of three events in the 2022 Spring Visiting Writers Series presented by the UNC Asheville English Department. Previous events includes a reading and talk from Dinty Moore on February 7, and a reading and talk from Diné writer of fiction and non-fiction Natanya Ann Pulley on March 17.

Additional information may be found at english.unca.edu/engage/visiting-writers-series/

Community Expectations

As members of this community, we care about everyone. Faculty, staff, students, and visitors have a shared commitment to take the necessary precautions to avoid spreading COVID-19 while following all recommended health guidelines. Please see UNC Asheville’s Community Expectations. Masks are required of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

The English Department’s Visiting Writers Series has provided exceptional literary arts programming that is free and open to the public. Every year, our series aims to connect students, faculty, staff, and the greater Asheville community with established authors to hear their work, and the stories behind their work. Our visiting writers have engaged with students in the classroom, over meals, and during informal presentations. Recent visiting writers include Claudia Rankine, Jericho Brown, Wally Lamb, David Ebershoff, and C.J. Hauser.

Our series is funded in large part by patrons of the series. Please consider supporting this series by making a tax-deductible contribution.

Nadia Owusu is a Ghanaian and Armenian-American writer and urbanist. She was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and raised in Italy, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, and Uganda. Her first book, Aftershocks, A Memoir, topped many most-anticipated and best book of the year lists, including The New York Times, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, TIME, Vulture, and the BBC. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.

Masks are required of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors.