Each year, the Department of English brings visiting writers across genres for readings and master classes with students, hosted by our Writer-in-Residence, Wiley Cash. In recent years, the department has hosted several award-winning writers, including Ben Fountain, Camille Dungy, David Ebershoff, Chrystal Hana Kim, Frank X Walker, and many others.
Calendar of Events
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.


Juliana Heng is the founder of I Laugh KL Comedy Show, one of the founding members of Parti Komedi Rakyat (PKR) – a comedy troupe, and has been doing stand-up comedy since September 2017. They strive to be a comedian who gets real, talking about issues considered taboo in the Asian society. Juliana has performed in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand (Bangkok) & England (London, Nottingham & Manchester). Recently, they emerged as the Finalist of Bangkok International Comedy Competition 2019, KING GONG at The Comedy Store – London (December 2019) & BEAT THE FROG at The Frog & Bucket Comedy Club, Manchester (January 2020).
A one-hour medley show by this Malaysian stand-up comedian, storyteller and poet explores the different ways to tell one’s life story. Even with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), why not live life with spunk?
NOTE: Matured content, mild sexual innuendos, emotionally triggering, graphical depiction of domestic violence & can be too real

This is a badass comedy showcase featuring the best local and surrounding area comics at a badass tattoo shop venue! This is a FREE show! And it’s also BYOB! It’s a perfect Saturday night good time!
What we’re about
A great place to find live Asheville’s live comedy performances and other local comedy fans!
We’ll be posting all the Asheville-area stand-up comedy shows in the area (assuming I know about them). We’ve met several of you already, and we’d love to meet more of you!
Asheville has a lot of great comedy. There’s touring comics performing in larger venues. Asheville is also home to a thriving local scene with great local comics performing in smaller venues and opening for touring comics. There is also a great selection of open mics, so if you ever have the itch to try something out, you’ll have plenty of opportunities.

One of the most unique things about The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival is our Random Acts of Fringe. These short, site-specific performances are mostly free and open to the public. This year, most of our RAFs are happening on social media, so be sure to follow us there for more information about these shows.
The YMI Cultural Center hosted Black History Brunch. Speeches, poems, songs, and performances will also be apart of the brunch. A selection of catered meals will also be provided for the people attending. This event’s primary purpose is to open Black History Month and know local black performers in Asheville. It is an event where people could get entertained but also educated on Black History. Join us at the YMI Cultural Center on Feb. 13th from 10 am – 2 pm. Hope to see you there!
You are invited to the YMI’s Black History Brunch!
On Feb. 13th, from 10 am – 2 pm, the YMI Cultural Center will host the YMI Black History Brunch. Speeches, poems, songs, and performances will be given. A selection of catered meals by our Cooking with Comedy alumnus, Clarence Robinson, will also be provided for the people attending. This event Is to open Black history month up and get to know some local black performers in Asheville. Join us in getting a crash course lesson in Black history and support your local talent. We’ll see you there!
*Pre-order your meals ahead of the event to reserve your spot*

Hailing from Old Hickory, Tennessee, rising stand-up star Nate Bargatze’s comedy is both clean and relatable. He has been featured as one of Esquire’s “Best New Comedians” by Jim Gaffigan, Rolling Stone’s “Comedians to Watch” by Marc Maron, Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” for 2015, and as #1 on Vulture‘s “50 Comedians You Should Know” in 2015.
Following the showbiz footsteps of his dad, a former clown turned world-class magician, Bargatze’s debut TV special, Full Time Magic, and debut album, Yelled at By a Clown, came out in 2015. The album reached #1 on the iTunes Comedy Charts and remained on Billboard’s Top Ten Comedy Charts for weeks. His first half-hour Netflix special, The Standups, premiered in 2017, and his first solo one-hour Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, came out this year. He currently has a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop his own TV show.
Bargatze has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and @midnight. Off-screen, he performed as part of Fallon’s Clean Cut Comedy Tour and Chris Rock’s Total Blackout Tour, along with live shows for the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. He regularly appears at Bonnaroo, SXSW, Oddball Comedy Festival, Sasquatch, Clusterfest, and the Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival.
Each year, the Department of English brings visiting writers across genres for readings and master classes with students, hosted by our Writer-in-Residence, Wiley Cash. In recent years, the department has hosted several award-winning writers, including Ben Fountain, Camille Dungy, David Ebershoff, Chrystal Hana Kim, Frank X Walker, and many others.
Acclaimed poet, essayist and Guggenheim Fellow, Claudia Rankine, will present a reading and talk via zoom on Wednesday, February 24th at 7:00 PM. One of the most prominent voices in literary and critical race studies, Rankine is the author of Just Us: An American Conversation (2020), and six collections of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; three plays including HELP, which premiered in March of 2020 at The Shed, NYC, The White Card, which premiered in February 2018 (ArtsEmerson/American Repertory Theater) and published by Graywolf Press in 2019, and Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue; as well as numerous video collaborations. She is also the co-editor of several anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind (FENCE, 2015). In 2016, she co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII).

Featuring Shelby Tesio, Karen Felix, Heather Tolley-Bauer, and Karen Waygood
Sponsored by
Tickets $12, VIP $18
Asheville Rooftop Silent Standup Comedy Show is back two Thursdays in March, 3/11 & 3/25
Covid-safe-seating is limited and tickets sell super fast, so get them at rabbitrabbitavl.com!
What: Rooftop Stand-Up Comedy Show (w/super cool headphones!)
Where: Rabbit Rabbit, downtown Asheville Outdoor Venue.
When: March 11 & 25, 7:00p
Cost: $12/person with minimum 2-top and 4-top tables only
Slice of Life Comedy and The Disclaimer Stand-Up Lounge brings you Asheville’s premier comics.
Hosted by Cody Hughes
featuring Petey Smith McDowell
Rabbit Rabbit is an awesome place to safely social-distance. Created by The Orange Peel Events and Asheville Pizza Company, Rabbit Rabbit Outdoor Venue is home of the Asheville Taco truck and Rabbit themed specialty cocktails. This powerhouse of Asheville entertainment will now host THE place to laugh-while-you-cry about the apocalypse.
The comedy show is a ticketed event on Rabbit Rabbit’s outdoor rooftop, with very limited table seating. Come early and get sunset dinner and drinks!
Your comedy ticket includes your own sanitized headphones. You will not miss a minute show while refilling your drink and looking stylishly futuristic!
For more info contact Michele at [email protected], and check out sliceoflifecomedy.com
FB Event link:
https://fb.me/e/11B1pkP5z
[Rabbit Rabbit Silent Comedy tickets include 1 pair of RF wireless personal headphones so that you can listen to the comic’s audio without violating time limits on amplified sound. The headphones are sanitized thoroughly with an EPA-approved cleaning agent between our weekly events, and stored in a no-touch, safe and sealed manner to allow further decontamination so that they are completely safe, between our once per week silent comedy nights.]
Contact Michele Scheve for more info: [email protected]
Come join us for creative writing online! We’ll meet on Zoom and do several rounds of writing and reading our writing to each other. Our focus is creating a supportive and fun environment through writing exercises and discussion
Visiting Writers Series
CJ Hauser teaches creative writing and literature at Colgate University. Her novel, Family of Origin, was published by Doubleday in 2019. She is also the author of the novel The From-Aways, and her fiction has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Tin House, Narrative Magazine, The Paris Review, TriQuarterly, Esquire, Third Coast, and The Kenyon Review.
This event is free and open to the public, but you must register at this link:

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!

In this brand new live streamed show, Joshua Lozoff will amaze and amuse you, and quite possibly read your mind from hundreds or thousands of miles away! The show is designed for all ages, and is highly interactive. You and your family won’t just be watching a screen, you will be part of the magic. Using the Zoom app, you will have a front row seat to the most magical night you’ve had in a long time!

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!
Asheville Rooftop Silent Standup Comedy Show is back two Thursdays in March, 3/11 & 3/25
Covid-safe-seating is limited and tickets sell super fast, so get them at rabbitrabbitavl.com!
What: Rooftop Stand-Up Comedy Show (w/super cool headphones!)
Where: Rabbit Rabbit, downtown Asheville Outdoor Venue.
When: March 11 & 25, 7:00p
Cost: $12/person with minimum 2-top and 4-top tables only
Slice of Life Comedy and The Disclaimer Stand-Up Lounge brings you Asheville’s premier comics.
Hosted by Cody Hughes
Rabbit Rabbit is an awesome place to safely social-distance. Created by The Orange Peel Events and Asheville Pizza Company, Rabbit Rabbit Outdoor Venue is home of the Asheville Taco truck and Rabbit themed specialty cocktails. This powerhouse of Asheville entertainment will now host THE place to laugh-while-you-cry about the apocalypse.
The comedy show is a ticketed event on Rabbit Rabbit’s outdoor rooftop, with very limited table seating. Come early and get sunset dinner and drinks!
Your comedy ticket includes your own sanitized headphones. You will not miss a minute show while refilling your drink and looking stylishly futuristic!
For more info contact Michele at [email protected], and check out sliceoflifecomedy.com
FB Event link:
https://fb.me/e/11B1pkP5z
[Rabbit Rabbit Silent Comedy tickets include 1 pair of RF wireless personal headphones so that you can listen to the comic’s audio without violating time limits on amplified sound. The headphones are sanitized thoroughly with an EPA-approved cleaning agent between our weekly events, and stored in a no-touch, safe and sealed manner to allow further decontamination so that they are completely safe, between our once per week silent comedy nights.]
Contact Michele Scheve for info at [email protected]

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!

So, how have you been staying sane during the past year of lockdown?
That’s the question The Magnetic Theatre asked one “quaranteam” of actors, and while it remains to be seen how much sanity they’ve maintained, the answer is, “Playing With Our Food!” Get ready for a weird, wild, hilarious feast of gustatory one-act plays selected, directed, and performed by Tabitha Judy, Strother Stingley, and Tippin.
Each taking turns at the directing trough, this “food group” of artists serves up a heaping helping of dark comedy, absurdity, and silliness in the course of four quirky short plays by playwrights from around the country. “Three Women and an Onion,” written by Ryan Bultrowicz, finds a Kafkaesque purgatory in an errant allium. Evan Baughfman’s “The Last Beans in the Box” explores the secret lives of young wizards’ least favorite sweets. Jackie Martin’s “Cookies for Bethany” warns of the dangers of taking things that aren’t yours. And “37 Scenes, and a Watermelon,” by Ian Downes, asks the question, “Do they always cry so much?”
So, order some dinner, get comfy with your TV tray, and tuck in to this smorgasbord of tasty theatrical tidbits, delivered via live-stream direct to your living room!

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.

Ticket holders for the original April 24, 2020 performance: See below for your options.
Winners of 15 international prizes, including the Cirque Du Soleil Trophy at Paris’ prestigious Festival Mondial De Cirque Du Demain, Compagnia Baccalá’s Pss Pss brings enthralling acrobatic feats together with inventive, delightful and often ridiculous visual storytelling that keeps you laughing long after leaving the theatre. Inspired by Chaplin, Keaton and the stars of silent films, modern-day clowns Camilla Pessi and Simone Fassari ran away from one circus to start a circus of their own — and, in doing so, they created a world that is timeless and tender, hilarious and ingenious and beloved around the world.
Funding support provided in part by:
If you had already purchased tickets for the original April 24, 2020 performance:
1. Do nothing. Your tickets will be automatically transfered to the new date.
2. Can’t make the rescheduled date? No problem. Convert your tickets into a credit to be used for another performance in the future (good until June 30, 2022).
3. Transform your tickets into a donation to the Wortham Center.
4. Request a refund.

We’re pleased to be part of the Reader Meet Writer series of online events hosted by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance.
This event is free but registration is required. Prior to the event we will send an email with the link required to complete your registration and attend on Zoom.
In a stirring and impeccably researched novel of Jazz-Age Chicago in all its vibrant life, two stories intertwine nearly a hundred years apart, as a chorus girl and a film student deal with loss, forgiveness, and love…in all its joy, sadness, and imperfections.
“Why would I talk to you about my life? I don’t know you, and even if I did, I don’t tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.”
1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.
2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right—if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting…
Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost…
DENNY S. BRYCE is an award-winning author and three-time RWA Golden Heart® finalist, including twice for Wild Women and the Blues. In addition to writing for NPR Books and FROLIC Media, the former professional dancer is a public relations professional who has spent over two decades running her own marketing and event management firm. A member of the Historical Novel Society, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Novelists, Inc., she is a frequent speaker at author events. Originally from Chicago, she now lives in Savannah, Georgia. Visit her online at DennySBryce.com.
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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.
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