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.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Candlelight Christmas Evenings (December)
Jan 2 @ 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Biltmore

Candlelight Christmas Evenings*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Saturday, January 5, 2019 (Select Dates)

*Check website for availability/dates
*By reservation only.
*Pricing varies by date.

Candlelight, firelight, and live music bring holiday warmth to the extravagant holiday décor of Biltmore House, creating an evening to remember. Evening guests can also take advantage of Antler Hill Village & Winery to enjoy free wine tastings. Advance reservations are required for evening visits.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/1524627331014393/?event_time_id=1524627451014381

Thursday, January 3, 2019
Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration (December)
Jan 3 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Biltmore

Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Sunday, January 6, 2019 (daily)

*Included with estate admission.
*Does not include “Candlelight Christmas Evenings”

Experience the holidays wreathed with the wonder of Biltmore. Our celebration presents Christmas on a grand scale with more than 55 trees decorated by our talented staff, accented with miles of ribbon, garlands, and lights. Festive menus in our restaurants and holiday wine tastings make for a memorable visit.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/104655743803303/?event_time_id=104655870469957

Candlelight Christmas Evenings (December)
Jan 3 @ 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Biltmore

Candlelight Christmas Evenings*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Saturday, January 5, 2019 (Select Dates)

*Check website for availability/dates
*By reservation only.
*Pricing varies by date.

Candlelight, firelight, and live music bring holiday warmth to the extravagant holiday décor of Biltmore House, creating an evening to remember. Evening guests can also take advantage of Antler Hill Village & Winery to enjoy free wine tastings. Advance reservations are required for evening visits.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/1524627331014393/?event_time_id=1524627457681047

Friday, January 4, 2019
Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration (December)
Jan 4 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Biltmore

Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Sunday, January 6, 2019 (daily)

*Included with estate admission.
*Does not include “Candlelight Christmas Evenings”

Experience the holidays wreathed with the wonder of Biltmore. Our celebration presents Christmas on a grand scale with more than 55 trees decorated by our talented staff, accented with miles of ribbon, garlands, and lights. Festive menus in our restaurants and holiday wine tastings make for a memorable visit.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/104655743803303/?event_time_id=104655770469967

Candlelight Christmas Evenings (December)
Jan 4 @ 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Biltmore

Candlelight Christmas Evenings*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Saturday, January 5, 2019 (Select Dates)

*Check website for availability/dates
*By reservation only.
*Pricing varies by date.

Candlelight, firelight, and live music bring holiday warmth to the extravagant holiday décor of Biltmore House, creating an evening to remember. Evening guests can also take advantage of Antler Hill Village & Winery to enjoy free wine tastings. Advance reservations are required for evening visits.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/1524627331014393/?event_time_id=1524627381014388

Saturday, January 5, 2019
Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration (December)
Jan 5 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Biltmore

Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Sunday, January 6, 2019 (daily)

*Included with estate admission.
*Does not include “Candlelight Christmas Evenings”

Experience the holidays wreathed with the wonder of Biltmore. Our celebration presents Christmas on a grand scale with more than 55 trees decorated by our talented staff, accented with miles of ribbon, garlands, and lights. Festive menus in our restaurants and holiday wine tastings make for a memorable visit.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/104655743803303/?event_time_id=104655873803290

Candlelight Christmas Evenings (December)
Jan 5 @ 5:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Biltmore

Candlelight Christmas Evenings*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Saturday, January 5, 2019 (Select Dates)

*Check website for availability/dates
*By reservation only.
*Pricing varies by date.

Candlelight, firelight, and live music bring holiday warmth to the extravagant holiday décor of Biltmore House, creating an evening to remember. Evening guests can also take advantage of Antler Hill Village & Winery to enjoy free wine tastings. Advance reservations are required for evening visits.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/1524627331014393/?event_time_id=1524627357681057

Sunday, January 6, 2019
Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration (December)
Jan 6 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Biltmore

Christmas at Biltmore Daytime Celebration*
Saturday, November 3, 2018 – Sunday, January 6, 2019 (daily)

*Included with estate admission.
*Does not include “Candlelight Christmas Evenings”

Experience the holidays wreathed with the wonder of Biltmore. Our celebration presents Christmas on a grand scale with more than 55 trees decorated by our talented staff, accented with miles of ribbon, garlands, and lights. Festive menus in our restaurants and holiday wine tastings make for a memorable visit.

Learn more about #ChristmasAtBiltmore or plan your visit: biltmore.com/Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/events/104655743803303/?event_time_id=104655750469969

Sunday, January 13, 2019
What happens when fossil fuels run out? Malaprops hosts writer and documentary filmmaker Tom Hansell
Jan 13 @ 3:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Malaprops Bookstore / Cafe

What happens when fossil fuels run out? How do communities and cultures survive?

Central Appalachia and south Wales were built to extract coal, and faced with coal’s decline, both regions have experienced economic depression, labor unrest, and out-migration. After Coal focuses on coalfield residents who chose not to leave, but instead remained in their communities and worked to build a diverse and sustainable economy. It tells the story of four decades of exchange between two mining communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and profiles individuals and organizations that are undertaking the critical work of regeneration.

The stories in this book are told through interviews and photographs collected during the making of After Coal, a documentary film produced by the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University and directed by Tom Hansell. Considering resonances between Appalachia and Wales in the realms of labor, environment, and movements for social justice, the book approaches the transition from coal as an opportunity for marginalized people around the world to work toward safer and more egalitarian futures.

Tom Hansell is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been broadcast on public television and screened at international film festivals. Hansell has more than two decades of experience working with coalfield residents to create collaborative media projects. He began his career at the Appalshop media arts center, and he currently teaches at Appalachian State University.

Saturday, February 2, 2019
Mandolin Orange – Sold Out
Feb 2 @ 9:00 pm – 11:56 pm
The Orange Peel

Mandolin Orange
Show: 9pm
Doors: 8pm
$25 – $30
Ages 18+

Tickets & Info: www.theorangepeel.net/event/mandolin-orange-3/

Mandolin Orange’s music radiates a mysterious warmth —their songs feel like whispered secrets, one hand cupped to your ear. The North Carolina duo have built a steady and growing fanbase with this kind of intimacy, and on Tides of A Teardrop, due out February 1, it is more potent than ever. By all accounts, it is the duo’s fullest, richest, and most personal effort. You can hear the air between them—the taut space of shared understanding, as palpable as a magnetic field, that makes their music sound like two halves of an endlessly completing thought. Singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz have honed this lamp glow intimacy for years.

On Tides of A Teardrop, Marlin wrote the songs, as he usually does, in a sort of stream of consciousness, allowing words and phrases to pour out of him as he hunted for the chords and melodies. Then, as he went back to sharpen what he found, he found something troubling and profound. Intimations of loss have always haunted the edges of their music, their lyrics hinting at impermanence and passing of time. But Tides of A Teardrop confronts a defining loss head-on: Marlin’s mother, who died of complications from surgery when he was 18.

These songs, as well as their sentiments, remain simple and quiet, like all of their music. But beneath the hushed surface, they are staggeringly straightforward. “I’ve been holding on to the grief for a long time. In some ways I associated the grief and the loss with remembering my mom. I feel like I’ve mourned long enough. I’m ready to bring forth some happier memories now, to just remember her as a living being.”

For this album, Marlin and Frantz enlisted their touring band, who they also worked with on their last album Blindfaller. Having recorded all previous albums live in the studio, they approached the recording process in a different way this time. “We went and did what most people do, which we’ve never done before—we just holed up somewhere and worked the tunes out together,” Frantz says. There is a telepathy and warmth in the interplay on Tides of A Teardrop that brings a new dynamic to the foreground—that holy silence between notes, the air that charges the album with such profound intimacy.

“This record is a little more cosmic, almost in a spiritual way—the space between the notes was there to suggest all those empty spaces the record touches on,” acknowledges Marlin. There are many powerful ways of acknowledging loss; sometimes the most powerful one is saying nothing at all.

www.mandolinorange.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jwGansp1E

https://www.facebook.com/events/473193099840238/

Sunday, February 24, 2019
Author and Environmental Award Winner Mark Warren Presents “Secrets of the Forest”
Feb 24 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Malaprops Bookstore and Cafe

Mark Warren, owner of Medicine Bow Wilderness School in Dahlonega, GA has been teaching the survival skills of the Cherokee for more than 45 years. Finally, all those years of teaching have culminated into his highly anticipated series of books called “Secrets of the Forest.”

Mark believes today’s society can — and should — learn some valuable lessons and skills from the Cherokee people who inhabited the southeastern part of the United States hundreds of years before European explorers ever landed on its shores. He will be discussing how some of the most common native plants and trees were used by the Cherokee for food, medicine, shelter and fire and he will bring along a few of his handmade crafts.

Quote from Mark, “All of us who live in the Southern Appalachians reside on land that once belonged to the Cherokees. While these native people led lives of intense daily interaction with their natural surroundings, most folks today have reduced nature to a backdrop of scenery. The great deficit in this scenario is our lack of understanding that we still depend upon nature. That dependency is largely hidden to us, especially to the new generations that come along to take over the ‘rules’ of how we behave with nature — air to breathe, water to drink, energy to consume for our daily actions. These are commodities that are easy to take for granted. If taken for granted, humans will have no reason to respect and conserve the pieces of the puzzle we call ecology”

Mark wrote the “Secrets of the Forest” books with three purposes in mind:
1) To provide clear instructions in primitive survival skills for anyone wanting to better his/her self-sufficiency in wilderness . . . by learning the old Indian ways of living comfortably in the forest.

2) To offer parents, teachers, scout leaders, and outdoor educators a guide to engage their students in Nature . . . at a time when our young ones so desperately need this connection, as does Nature itself.

3) To win over a new generation of environmental advocates who will look after this world.

Praise for “Secrets of the Forest”:
“If you’ve ever wondered how to transfer lost knowledge and skills to our next generation, this book series is your guide. Mark is no newcomer in the world of primitive skills and nature study. He’s been passing on his knowledge to young and old for over a half century. I’ve had the pleasure of attending several of his classes in Dahlonega, Georgia. Mark is a walking encyclopedia of earth-lore and the skills required to call Nature home.” ~ Todd Walker from Survival Sherpa

“Secrets of the Forest is an invaluable teaching tool for my staff at Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center. Countless times, I have seen them visit our library in the office and pull this volume off the shelf to aid them in planning classes. The structure and phrasing of Mark’s work really speaks to the experiential educator. The content, and breadth of knowledge, contained within the pages is a true gift to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the natural world and really nurtures a connection with the earth!” ~Nathan Roark, Executive Director Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center

“Mark Warren is an authentic educator who links his vast knowledge of plants and animals to skills necessary for survival, a combination that creates an active and exciting experience for children and adults. The series has begun to take our school in directions we never imagined possible.”~O.J. Morgan, Head of School at The Bright School, Chattanooga, Tennessee

“Through Mark Warren’s Secrets of the Forest, educators, leaders, stewards, interpreters, learners, and students of connecting with and through nature have access to his spirit, insight, and generosity. These [books] are a ‘must have’ for anyone wanting to inspire, and to be inspired by, ancient wisdom and knowledge based in a deep reverence for the Earth.” ~Joseph A. Pate, PhD Department Chair – Outdoor Leadership Assistant Professor Young Harris College

Check out this review for Secrets Volume 1 by Survival Sherpa: https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/secrets-of-the-forest-the-best-outdoor-education-book-ive-read/

The “Secrets of the Forest” book series will be available for purchase and signing at the event as well as “Two Winters in a Tipi” a memoir, and his historical fiction series “Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey.”

Mark Warren is also a Western historian,and has researched the Frontier West and especially the life of Wyatt Earp for more than 63 years. His trilogy, Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey,” has met with the approval of a discerning group of Western historians as well as lovers of the historical fiction genre.

Synopsis for “Born to the Badge:”
In Wichita, Kansas, Wyatt Earp answers his most innate calling and returns to law enforcement, where he excels by sheer force and an utter lack of fear. When town leaders become disenchanted with his hardline methods, he moves to a place where an iron-rule is needed – Dodge City. With him comes Mattie, a runaway prostitute, who, like Wyatt, is searching for a chance at a new life.

As assistant marshal in Dodge, Wyatt stands at the center of a volatile arena, which pits celebratory cowboys against the economic security of the merchants. Wyatt’s performance as a proficient officer earns him respect among the citizens, but it does not provide the social standing he desires.

After a disappointing venture into the gold fields of Deadwood, Dakota Territory, Wyatt returns to Dodge to find no marshal’s job waiting for him. Mattie has fallen back into prostitution. Regressing to foot-soldier status, Wyatt takes a job as detective for the A.T. & S.F. Railroad to hunt down train robbers. Heading south from Kansas he once again tries to outride his failures.

In Texas he meets a man whose name will be forever linked with his own. Doc Holliday is a testy, Southern ex-dentist turned gambler, who is dying from tuberculosis. By giving Wyatt information about the train robbers, Doc offers the first thread in an unlikely friendship that will weave the two men’s lives into a common story that will be told through the ages.

READ CHAPTER ONE of “Adobe Moon” for free, now! www.wyattearpanamericanodyssey.com

Reviews:
“In 1896, Ed Colburn, who had been a Dodge City attorney during that town’s turbulent early years, remembered Wyatt Earp: ‘While there (Dodge City), I saw Wyatt Earp do things you wouldn’t undertake for a million dollars, and yet he did it every day just as a street car conductor rings up fares or a banker receives deposits.’ In Born to the Badge Mark Warren follows Earp through the Kansas cow-towns where he first makes a name for himself. They still talk about Wyatt Earp in Wichita and Dodge City. After reading this book, you’ll understand why.” ~Jeff Morey, Historical Consultant for the movie “Tombstone.”

Mark Warren is the first writer to illuminate the Earp story from the inside. Adobe Moon and Born to the Badge show you why Wyatt Earp became a legend and what that legend was born out of. ~Allen Barra, author of Inventing Wyatt Earp, his Life and Many Legends.

“Not every writer understands that the most important line in any book is the hook – that opening sentence which grabs your attention and makes you eager to read on. Born to the Badge opens with the following line: ‘Wichita, Kansas,was hell in the making…’ and there I went – engrossed for hours…Warren is able to convey scenes with a cinematic clarity. In this way, I can see the store room lit by the warm glow of a single lantern; and the prairie crossing at night, guided solely by the stars above and the subtle shapes of the land smudged on a distant horizon” ~Peta Stevalli, New Zealand Booklovers

“Warren’s novel paints a vivid picture of the lawlessness of the American Frontier…Although this book is a fictionalized account, its dedication to facts will keep history buffs satisfied, and its colorful similes will put a smile on any genre-fiction lover’s face.” ~ Booklist

“Historian Mark Warren’s second volume in his trilogy on the life and times of Wyatt Earp is an excellent story of Earp’s adventures and misadventures in Kansas, the Dakotas, and Texas. The dialogue is virtually true to life and gives the feeling the author must have been present when the words were originally spoken. This volume has been anticipated and meets all expectations. Whether one is new to the story of Wyatt Earp or a seasoned historian of the Wild West, there is something here for everyone who loves stories of adventure, law and order, and life on the western frontier of the 1870s. A most worthwhile contribution to the story of “Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp, Brave, Courageous, and Bold!” ~ Roy B. Young, author and Western historian, Wild West History Association

Tuesday, March 5, 2019
AshevilleFairyHair.com at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Mar 5 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Come join us for a Mardi Gras Celebration and get Sparkled with Finklepott’s Original Fairy Hair!!
?Tuesday, March 5th 5:00pm-8:00pm
at
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
100 Sierra Nevada Way, Mills River, NC 28732
Sign up here to reserve your spot and for more information:
http://bit.ly/sierraMarch

Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Womxn’s Empowerment Bookclub
Apr 16 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Firestorm Books

If you’ve been playing small, then this month’s book is for you! Playing Big by Tara Mohr will help you find the methods and courage to play bigger in your life and stop living small. All womxn are welcome. If you are too busy to read the book, check out this podcast with the author and you’ll get a good sense of it from there. https://www.dontkeepyourdayjob.com/episodes/tara-mohr

Come to April Bookclub and check out at Firestorm Books. We’ll meet on the 3rd Tues, April 16th at 6:30pm. #bookclub #avl #828isgreat #womensempowerment #asheville

Thursday, May 23, 2019
LaZoom Comedy Weekend!
May 23 – May 26 all-day
LaZoom Room

We are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend the most LaZoom way ever… with silliness!!!
Four nights, four very different and fantastic shows!

5/23 Home Groan Pun Battle with Kelly Morgan and Glenn Reed
8pm free
https://www.facebook.com/events/815196242197824/
5/24 Paul Ollinger, 9pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/304240486963098/
5/25 Tim Northern, 9:30pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/665380333912623/
5/26 Red, White & Boobs, Women of DC Comedy Showcase 9pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/757375191297128/

Click on the individual events for tickets or buy a pass for the whole weekend and get an awesome LaZoom koozie for keeping your beers cold through all four shows and a Modelface Comedy & Events button!!!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-weekend-tickets-61324208358

Wednesday, June 12, 2019
“Beyond my Dreams – the African American Experience in Ballet”
Jun 12 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
the BLOCK off Biltmore

A rare opportunity to meet Claudia Foltz, co-author of dance icon Mel Tomlinson’s autobiography, “Beyond My Dreams”. Come here his story of how talent, determination and hard work broke through walls, making him one of the first African Americans featured at the NYC Ballet. Terpsicorps dancers Keith Reeves and Lydia McRae will join the discussion to share their view of life in today’s world of ballet from an African American perspective.

Thursday, July 4, 2019
Fireworks Extravaganza
Jul 4 all-day
Tweetsie Railroad

Celebrate July 4th with a day of family fun at Tweetsie Railroad, followed by the High Country’s most spectacular fireworks display. The park will remain open until 9:00 pm and fireworks begin at 9:30 pm.

Independence Day 5K at Asheville Outlets
Jul 4 @ 6:30 am – 9:30 am
Asheville Outlets

Start off your 4th of July with a BANG and join us at Asheville Outlets (ShopAshevilleOutlets.com) for a fun, flat and fast 5K at the Asheville Outlets. Choose from the timed 5K run/walk or a 1 mile untimed walk.

Event Schedule:
July 4 – 6:30 a.m. – Race Day Packet Pick-Up and Registration Begins
July 4 – 8:00 a.m. – 5K Adult and Youth Race Begins
July 4 – 8:05 a.m. – 1 Mile Walk Begins
July 4 – 9:00 a.m. – 5K Awards

$5 from every registration will go towards Wounded Warrior Project or Veterans for Peace. To register, visit: https://raceroster.com/events/2019/22665/asheville-independence-day-5k. All runners will receive a drawstring goodie bag courtesy of Asheville Outlets.

Asheville Independence Day 5k
Jul 4 @ 8:00 am
Asheville Outlet Mall

Asheville’s Independence Day 5k will get you starting your July 4th with a bang! This is a flat, family friendly course that starts and ends at the Asheville Outlet Mall.

Friday, July 5, 2019
LaZoom Comedy: Diego Attanasio FRIDAY NIGHT
Jul 5 @ 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm
LaZoom Room

Diego Attanasio is a Detroit based comedian originally from Peru who quickly wins over crowds with his quick wit, likability, and sarcastic observations. His rapid-fire delivery and onstage charisma make Diego one of the most notable acts in the midwest.

Diego has performed stand-up in Alaska, Hawaii, and everywhere in between. He was a semi-finalist in the San Diego Comedy Festival and a finalist in the Laugh Your Bluegrass Off Comedy Festival. Additionally he has performed at the Baltimore Comedy Festival, Cleveland Comedy Festival, Memphis Comedy Fest, North Carolina Comedy Festival, Idaho Laugh Fest, Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival, Beast Village Comedy Festival, Motor City Comedy Festival, Burning Bridges Comedy Festival, Whiskey Bear Comedy Festival, Gilda’s LaughFest, Border City Comedy Fest, Windsor Comedy Festival, Let’s Fest, and Fairbanks Funny Festival. Diego has opened for Tig Notaro (Netflix), Robert Kelly (HBO), Matt Braunger (Comedy Central), and Joe List (Netflix).

ages 18+
Tickets $8 advance, $12 day of
FRIDAY: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-diego-attanasio-friday-tickets-61802141870
SATURDAY: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lazoom-comedy-diego-attanasio-saturday-tickets-61802355509

Wednesday, August 28, 2019
WNC Declassified: Local History Discoveries in Secret Documents
Aug 28 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Pack Memorial Library

WNC Declassified:Local History Discoveries in Secret Documents

Join WNC Magazine senior editor and Friends of the North Carolina Room board member Jon Elliston as he recaps his yearlong written series with a multimedia presentation in the Lord Auditorium at Pack Memorial Library.

Learn more about:

**Asheville’s Fascist: William Dudley Pelley’s obscure but infamous Silver Shirt movement lives on in his paper trail

**Swannanoa’s Superspy: Carl Duckett’s unlikely journey from small-town roots to top CIA official

**Rosman’s Spy Base: When the National Security Agency set up a mountain espionage station, it was a hard secret to keep

**Senator Sam Ervin’s Secret Wars: He stuck to the Constitution through clashes with McCarthy, the Army, CIA, and Nixon

**School Under Scrutiny: The FBI’s files on Black Mountain College tell a little-known story of art, politics, and surveillance

Local Author Launches Debut Novel at Malaprops Pop-Up
Aug 28 @ 7:00 pm
Malaprop’s Pop-Up in downtown Hendersonville

My name is Meagan Lucas and I am a Hendersonville-based writer. I’m having a book launch for my debut novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs, at the new Malaprop’s Pop-Up in downtown Hendersonville.

In Songbirds and Stray Dogs, 21 year old Beaufort waitress, Jolene, has spent the majority of her life living in the shadow of the pain her mother caused, and trying to prove herself worthy of her Aunt’s stingy love. Unintentionally pregnant and abandoned again, Jolene tries to outrun her shame in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Penniless, alone, and chased by demons from her past, she is forced to confront her mother’s legacy, and her own fear. Song Birds and Stray Dogs is a Southern story, born of sweet tea and the Bible Belt, chow-chow and cornbread, shot guns and porch rocking. But it is also a universal story of escaping the burden of your past and finding yourself at home in a strange land.

Thursday, August 29, 2019
Kathy Izard: The Hundred Story Home
Aug 29 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Pack Memorial Library

Kathy Izard: Reading & Signing "The Hundred Story Home" w AHOPE

Teen – (grades 6-12), Adult

Join us at Pack Memorial Library to welcome Kathy Izard, author of “The Hundred Story Home” and children’s book, “A Good Night for Mr. Coleman.” She will be conducting a reading followed by a Q&A with guests from AHOPE Day Center- Homeward Bound of WNC.

Kathy Izard is an award-winning author and speaker who helped bring transformation to Charlotte in homelessness, housing and mental health. Her memoir “The Hundred Story Home” has been featured on NPR and the TODAY Show and inspires people to be changemakers in their communities. kathyizard.com

Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe will be here for book sales and help with the book signing.

Program is free and everyone is welcome. Doors open at 5:30.

Friday, August 30, 2019
Arms and The Man Readers Theatre ACT
Aug 30 @ 2:30 pm
ACT: 35below

This comedy is often viewed as Shaw’s wittiest play! This is a borderline farce that will stimulate serious thinking about the nature of both romance and war. What is Raina to do when she finds that an enemy soldier has taken refuge in her room? What will her fiancée say? The plot, of course, thickens! Directed by Jim Reid and performed as Readers Theatre as a part of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase Series.

Saturday, August 31, 2019
Arms and The Man Readers Theatre ACT
Aug 31 @ 2:30 pm
ACT: 35below

This comedy is often viewed as Shaw’s wittiest play! This is a borderline farce that will stimulate serious thinking about the nature of both romance and war. What is Raina to do when she finds that an enemy soldier has taken refuge in her room? What will her fiancée say? The plot, of course, thickens! Directed by Jim Reid and performed as Readers Theatre as a part of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase Series.

Sunday, September 1, 2019
Arms and The Man Readers Theatre ACT
Sep 1 @ 2:30 pm
Reuter Center on UNCA’s campus

This comedy is often viewed as Shaw’s wittiest play! This is a borderline farce that will stimulate serious thinking about the nature of both romance and war. What is Raina to do when she finds that an enemy soldier has taken refuge in her room? What will her fiancée say? The plot, of course, thickens! Directed by Jim Reid and performed as Readers Theatre as a part of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase Series.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Ninth Street Women: Five Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art
Sep 10 @ 12:00 pm
Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café

Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of 20th-century abstract painting—not as muses but as artists. These women changed American art and society, tearing up the prevailing social code and replacing it with a doctrine of liberation. In Ninth Street Women, acclaimed author Mary Gabriel tells a remarkable and inspiring story of the power of art and artists in shaping not just postwar America but the future.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Dale Neal presents Appalachian Book of the Dead
Sep 11 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

| A mystery novel set in Yonah, N.C.

Thursday, September 12, 2019
Ramble Ladies Evening Book Club
Sep 12 @ 7:00 pm
contact organizer

Second Thursday each Month
If you are interested in joining the Ramble Ladies Evening Book Club held the second Thursday of each month at 7pm, please, contact Judy Deutsch at [email protected].
Friday, September 13, 2019
Mark Nepo, Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression
Sep 13 @ 6:30 pm – Sep 14 @ 5:30 pm
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, Reuter Center

Friday Night- 6:30-8:30pm, Full Retreat (9/13 and 9/14)- 9:30am-5:30pm

Based his new book, Drinking from the River of Light, this Mark Nepo workshop will center on the lifelong process of listening, reflecting, and expressing, and on how bearing witness to the truth of living reveals the mysteries of life.

As no one can live without inhaling and exhaling, no one can live without feeling and expressing. The life of expression is how the heart breathes and how our spirit grows in the life that carries it. The life of feeling, dialogue, and writing, whatever form they take—poetry, story, memoir, or reflection—open us to a personal form of expression, a necessary conversation with the Universe that helps us move through obstacles and transitions. As meditation is an ancient art that deepens our relationship to how we breathe, writing and storytelling are ancient arts that deepen our relationship to all that matters. And just as the reward for practicing meditation is not that we’ll become great breathers but that we’ll become clear vessels of life-force, the reward for practicing a personal form of expression is not that we’ll become great writers or great storytellers but that such practice will help us be more resilient and wake closer to life.

In this Mark Nepo workshop, Mark will open a heart space through which participants can discover their own rhythms of expression. Through poetry, stories, and metaphors, Through reflection, journaling, and dialogue, each participant will have the chance to practice listening and expressing. We are constantly being shaped by life into finer instruments of care and expression. The deeper we go, the more attuned we become, and the more we join with everything around us. This workshop will help you to inhabit a personal form of expression, by which you can strengthen your connections and find your way.

Topics in this Mark Nepo workshop include “The Chord in Our Heart,” “What It Means to See,” “Bearing Witness,” “Unraveling the Self,” “Giving and Getting Attention,” “Breaking Surface,” “Understanding Practice,” and “Fitting Things Together.”

Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for forty years. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, he has published fourteen books and recorded eight audio projects. Recent work includes: Reduced to Joy (2013), Seven Thousand Ways to Listen which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award, Staying Awake (2012), Holding Nothing Back (2012), As Far As the Heart Can See (2011), Finding Inner Courage (2011),and Surviving Has Made Me Crazy (2007), as well as audio books of The Book of Awakening, Finding Inner Courage, and As Far As the Heart Can See (2011). As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship.

Saturday, September 28, 2019
Art opening at Flood Gallery: “Minimalia: The Commonwealth of Sentiments.” Photography & Poetry by Oğuz Erdur
Sep 28 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Flood Gallery Fine Art Center

“Minimalia: The Commonwealth of Sentiments.”
Photography & Poetry by Oğuz Erdur
Also showing:
Sculptural & Functional Ceramics by Joey Sheehan
Opening reception – Sept. 28 • 6-9 pm
Exhibit through Dec. 30

“Minimalia: The Commonwealth of Sentiments.” is a new photographic exhibit of dream-like, surreal experimentations and poetry by Oğuz Erdur, assistant professor of anthropology at UNC Asheville, from Istanbul, Turkey. The collection of micro-photography images were made with a lensbaby lens. Lensbaby is a line of camera lenses for SLR cameras that combine a simple lens with a bellows or ball and socket mechanism for use in special-effect photography, often used in selective focus photography and bokeh effects. Featuring a hybrid collection of poems, photographic close-ups and prose reflections, the exhibition centers on themes of existential angst and the quest for meaning. Erdur will also be reading his poetry at the exhibit opening.

Joey Sheehan began his study in clay over 14 years ago when he received a BFA in ceramics from Virginia Tech. He completed a 2 year residency at the Odyssey Center and another year there as the studio technician, and has been making pots in Western North Carolina ever since. Sheehan is extremely interested in classical shapes and forms but with a contemporary look at surface. He works to build a relationship between the shape, function, and surface of each piece while also telling a story of the firing process. His work has been shown all over the eastern US and he is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the Piedmont Craftsman.