Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Friday, April 16, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 16 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Saturday, April 17, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 17 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 17 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Sunday, April 18, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 18 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 18 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

The Great Smokies Writing Program
Apr 18 @ 3:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's

Submit this form to RSVP for the Writers at Home reading series with The Great Smokies Writing Program online on Sunday, April 18 at 3 PM ET.

This month we will hear readings from participants in GSWP Poetry Master Class.

Like most of our events, this event is free. We encourage you to support our work and keep more dollars in our community by purchasing books from Malaprop’s. You may also support us by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!

Monday, April 19, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 19 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 19 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 20 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 20 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 21 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 21 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Thursday, April 22, 2021
Voices of the River: Art + Poetry Contest
Apr 22 all-day
online w/ RiverLink

Create a river-inspired work of art for our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. You can make 2D or 3D creations, write poems, haikus or short stories, or even record a dance, skit or song that you create. Winners will receive a variety of prizes donated by local businesses and organizations.

Show Us What the River Means to You!

Every spring we host our Voices of the River: Art & Poetry Contest. We ask kids to use the river as a source of inspiration to showcase their creativity. Each year we are so amazed by the talent of these young artists, poets, and performers. Submissions can include 2D and 3D works in various mediums, poems and creative writings, and video compositions of songs, dances, or skits. Winners are selected by a council of judges made up of local artists, writers, and community leaders. Many generous businesses also donate prizes for winners from each age group and category.

This year we want you to show us “How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”

All entries are due by Thursday April 22nd

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 22 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Virtual Poetry Workshop with Carlene Kucharczyk
Apr 22 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Online w/ Carl Sandburg House

This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels and is a fun way to find inspiration from a new prompt or revise current work. Carlene was the 2018 Carl Sandburg Writer-in-Residence.
Sign up to attend the workshop at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx…
Carlene Kucharczyk first came to the Carl Sandburg Home when she was taking a road trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway and camping in national parks. She loved it and knew she would one day apply to be the writer-in- residence. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry from North Carolina State University in 2015, where she taught creative writing as a graduate student. After the program, she taught expository writing at the Agricultural Institute at NC State.
In 2017, she was awarded the Henry David Thoreau Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. She was also the recipient of a scholarship to The Frost Place Poetry Seminar. Her poetry and prose have been published or are forthcoming in Tupelo Quarterly, Connecticut River Review, Atlanta Review, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, Permafrost Magazine, and Strange Horizons. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has placed in the North Carolina State Poetry and Fiction contests. She currently works as a freelance copyeditor, and is originally from Connecticut.
Thanks to the Friends of Carl Sandburg, Inc. for their support of this program!
Friday, April 23, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 23 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Saturday, April 24, 2021
Celebrate Earth Day with a Cleanup at Lake Julian Park
Apr 24 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Lake Julian Park

Individuals, community organizations, and other groups of volunteers are invited to help clean up Lake Julian Park (37 Lake Julian Rd. in Arden) and along Heywood Road on Saturday, Apr. 24. Projects include roadside trash removal, landscaping, wetland remediation, lake surface litter skimming, and more. The park-wide cleanup celebrates Earth Day and the growing global movement to restore ecosystems and forests, conserve and rebuild soils, improve farming practices, protect wildlife populations, and rid waterways of plastics.

“Buncombe County parks saw record-breaking visitation in 2020,” according to Peyton O’Conner, Director of Buncombe County Recreation Services. “As the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down, the one avenue for maintaining peoples’ physical and mental wellbeing were parks, open spaces, greenways, and trails. Hopefully, this increased usage will lead to increased advocacy. Our citizens are the best defense in preserving our unique collection of outdoor spaces for current and future generations of Buncombians against pollution and natural disasters caused by climate change.”

Advance registration is required. This is a free event, but space is limited in accordance with current North Carolina guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19. All attendees are expected to follow public health guidance during the event.

Volunteers will be provided with cleanup supplies, but should wear clothes that can get dirty. Volunteers who bring their own watercraft will be allowed to skim trash from the lake surface.

Volunteers under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

To receive the I Heart Parks monthly newsletter, sign up online. Follow Buncombe County Recreation on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.

 

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 24 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Sunday, April 25, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 25 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Monday, April 26, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 26 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 27 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Celebrate National Poetry month with WNC poet and author Mildred Barya
Apr 27 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Black Mountain Library ONLINE

Poet Mildred Barya

 

Celebrate National Poetry month with WNC poet and author Mildred Barya.
Born in Uganda, Mildred is an Assistant Professor of English at UNCA, where she teaches poetry, fiction, hybrid writing, and world literature. Mildred has published numerous short stories for literary magazines and anthologies, as well as three books of poetry: Give me Room to Move My Feet, The Price of Memory after the Tsunami, and Men Love Chocolates But They Don’t Saywhich won the Uganda National Award for Poetry Publication in 2002. She was awarded the Pan African Prize for Africana Literary Fiction in 2008, and received the North Carolina Humanities Council, 2020 Linda Flowers Literary Award for her non-fiction entry, Being Here in This Body.
Mildred hosts  ‘Mildred Barya’s House of Life’, http://mildredbarya.com, a ‘world literature blog at its finest’!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE EVENT ON ZOOM

Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 28 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Thursday, April 29, 2021
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 29 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Friday, April 30, 2021
Trees for Tots–Celebrate Arbor Day
Apr 30 all-day
Western Carolina Community Action

April 30th is Arbor Day – a nationally recognized day to celebrate the beauty of nature and plant a
tree in support of the environment. To commemorate the day, the children of WCCA’s Head Start
and Early Head Start programs will be busy planting over 250 White Pine seedlings with a little
help from their families and the staff!

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Library Black Out Poetry Kits
Apr 30 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
All Buncombe County Libraries

Photo of typewriter

 

April is National Poetry Month and we invite all poets, would be poets and poetry fans to celebrate with Buncombe County Public Libraries.  We’ll be hosting the following free events at libraries all over the county.  For more information on any of these programs, contact your friendly neighborhood library.

Black Out Poetry Kits Available at the Library
All Month Long
Every Library

Come to any library and pick up a free kit to create a black out poetry masterpiece. Black out poetry doesn’t start with a blank page, it starts with a page of words taken from an old book. Poets will eliminate words to create a poem composed of the words left on the page. Visit any branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries in April to pick up your very own black out poetry kit featuring markers, inspiration and pages of print to begin your creation. When you’re finished, photograph your creation and upload it to facebook or instagram. Tag your library’s account and we’ll feature it as a post! You can also drop your poem by the library and we’ll post it for you. Kits are available while supplies last.

Sunday, May 2, 2021
Poetrio: Fleda Brown, Rita Quillen, Gretchen Primack
May 2 @ 3:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's

Join us for our monthly poetry event featuring three poets. This month, we welcome Fleda Brown, Rita Quillen, and Gretchen Primack. Click here to RSVP for this event. On the day of the event, we will send a reminder email with the link required to attend.

Like most of our events, this event is free. If you decide to attend and to purchase the authors’ books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!


Fleda Brown’s tenth collection of poems, Flying Through a Hole in the Storm (2021) won the Hollis Summers Prize from Ohio University Press. Earlier poems can be found in The Woods Are On Fire: New & Selected Poems, chosen by Ted Kooser for the University of Nebraska poetry series, 2017. Her work has appeared three times in The Best American Poetry and has won a Pushcart Prize, the Felix Pollak Prize, the Philip Levine Prize, and the Great Lakes Colleges New Writer’s Award, and has twice been a finalist for the National Poetry Series. Her new memoir, Mortality, with Friends will be out from Wayne State University Press Fall 2021. She is professor emerita at the University of Delaware and was poet laureate of Delaware from 2001-07. Read more at: https://www.fledabrown.com

Golda Meir once said, “Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.” The poems in Fleda Brown’s brave collection, her thirteenth, take readers on a journey through the fury of this storm. There are plenty of tragedies to weather here, both personal and universal: the death of a father, a child’s terminal cancer, the extinction of bees, and environmental degradation. Brown’s poems are wise, honest, and deeply observant meditations on contemporary science, physics, family, politics, and aging. With tributes to visionary artists, including Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, and Grandma Moses, as well as to life’s terrors, sadnesses, and joys, these works are beautiful dispatches from a renowned poet who sees the shadows lengthening and imagines what they might look like from the other side.

Rita Quillen’s poetry book, Some Notes You Hold was published by Madville in 2020. She’s also author of the novel Wayland, Iris Press (2019), a full-length poetry collection, The Mad Farmer’s Wife, Texas Review Press, (2016), and was a finalist for the Weatherford Award in Appalachian Literature from Berea College. Her novel Hiding Ezra, released by Little Creek Books, was a finalist for the 2005 DANA Awards. One of six semi-finalists for the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Virginia, she received three Pushcart nominations and a Best of the Net nomination in 2012. She lives, farms, writes songs, and takes photographs at Early Autumn Farm in southwestern Virginia. Read more at www.ritasimsquillen.com.

Some Notes You Hold is about surviving what life throws at us as we age. The so-called “golden years” are so named because of the high admission price—the tremendous losses, disappointments, illnesses, and failures we all experience if we live long enough. The first part of the book, called “Letting Go,” focuses on surviving deep grief. The middle section is a musical interlude, exploring the tremendous power of music to heal us mentally, physically, and spiritually and to reorder our thinking and our emotions. The last section, “Holding On,” explores the roads leading to survival: prayer and meditation, communion with the natural world, and writing.

Gretchen Primack is the author of Kind, republished by Lantern Books in 2021; Visiting Days (Willow Books Editors Select Series); and Doris’ Red Spaces (Mayapple Press). She also co-wrote, with Jenny Brown, the memoir The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals (Penguin Avery).  Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, FIELD, Ploughshares, Poet Lore, and other journals and anthologies. Primack has administrated and taught with college programs and poetry workshops in prison for many years, and she moonlights at The Golden Notebook Bookstore in Woodstock, NY. Read more at http://www.gretchenprimack.com/bio.php

Kind is the kind of poetry book that makes you think differently about our world and the beings that inhabit it. Primack explores all facets of our lives with other beings—the beauty, the tragedy, and the absurdity that surrounds her existence. Kind cuts to one’s emotional core to make us think and feel. “It is this poet’s calling to hold kindness and its opposite in tension. What is that opposite? The poems in this volume offer unsettling answers. With Gretchen Primack’s poems, the absence of kindness causes a quaking in our bodies. A lyrical language of the present tense evokes a fierce and tender impatience with what should never have been settled for.”

Sunday, May 9, 2021
Mothers Day- Moms Climb Treetops/ Zip KidZip for Free
May 9 all-day
The Adventure Center Asheville

Book an Adventure at the Treetops Adventure Park or KidZip and Mom will climb/zip for free with paying family members.  Use code “mom” when booking online.

Mother’s Day Buffet
May 9 @ 10:30 am – 2:00 pm
Highland Lake Inn & Resort
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Adds Juneteenth as County Holiday
May 12 all-day
Buncombe County

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At the May 4 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners voted to add Juneteenth as an additional County holiday following a public hearing.

Juneteenth, also known as “Jubilee Day,” “Freedom Day,” “Emancipation Day,” or “Liberation Day,” honors the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed by President Abraham Lincoln. That signing happened almost two years earlier, but Union soldiers did not arrive with the news until June 19, 1865. That day, known as Juneteenth, is a day of celebration of liberation, emancipation, and freedom for African Americans. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

“I think it should be celebrated by our staff and the County, because it is an important date in history,” said Commissioner Al Whitesides. “Hopefully this will help us start the conversation and correct some of what’s happened the last 400 years. We’re saying a lot not only to our employees, but to our community.”

Currently, Wake, Northampton, Bertie, and Orange Counties offer Juneteenth as a paid holiday, as do the cities of Apex, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Princeville, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority also offers Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

The Board voted unanimously to approve the staff recommendation to add Juneteenth as an additional County holiday. The County will celebrate Juneteenth on the Friday that falls closest to or on June 19. This year, Buncombe County Government administrative offices will be closed on Friday, June 18 in observance of Juneteenth. Emergency and public safety services will remain open.