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.
Clare and Irene were two childhood friends. They lost touch when Clare’s father died and she moved in with two white aunts. By hiding that Clare was part-black, they allowed her to ‘pass’ as a white woman and marry a white racist. Irene lives in Harlem, commits herself to racial uplift, and marries a black doctor. The novel centers on the meeting of the two childhood friends later in life, and the unfolding of events as each woman is fascinated and seduced by the other’s daring lifestyle. The end of the novel is famous for its ambiguity. Many see this novel as an example of the plot of the tragic mulatto, a common figure in early African-American literature. Recently, Passing has received renewed attention because of its close examination of racial and sexual ambiguities and liminal spaces. It has achieved canonical status in many American universities.
What we’re about
We will be reading the classics. We will be discussing books in depth like the book worms that we are. We may pepper in some non-fiction here and there, but the focus of the book club is classic literature.
YMI Cultural Center and Buncombe County Public Libraries have partnered on a book club exploring modern Black authors. December’s selection is The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Asheville’s YMI Cultural Center (YMI) and Buncombe County Public Libraries (BCPL) are partnering to create a book club focusing on modern Black authors and readers. Beginning Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, the Black Experience Book Club will meet twice per month at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
To maximize safety, meetings will be held in a hybrid in-person and online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone interested may join the meeting via Zoom or meet in person at the YMI Impact Center, 39 S. Market St., Suite A, Asheville, NC 28801. In-person meetings will be capped at 10 participants in order to observe social distancing.
To register to attend in-person, please call YMI staff at 828-257-4540 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday or email [email protected] at any time. To receive the Zoom link or for questions regarding finding copies of book club titles, please contact Alexandra Duncan at [email protected]. You may also find information about upcoming titles and request the Zoom link through the library’s Events Calendar. Visit buncombecounty.org/library and click on Events Calendar at the top of the page.
In December 2020, the Black Experience Book Club will discuss The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In January 2021, members will discuss The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah, and in February 2021, Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi. Selected titles for future months will be announced in book club meetings, on the library’s Events Calendar, and via YMI and BCPL social media channels. Readers may borrow any of these titles at any BCPL location or at the YMI. Copies will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so participants are encouraged to reserve their copies early.
We’re excited to celebrate the release of the new picture book by Asheville writer Allan Wolf and illustrator Brianne Farley! RSVP here to receive an email on the day of the event with the link you’ll need to attend.
Signed and personalized copies available from Malaprop’s! Pre-order below and get your copy signed or personalized by Allan Wolf. If you would like personalization (ex. “To Maia”), just indicate that in the comments area when ordering.
There is no fee to attend but we encourage you to purchase from Malaprop’s to help us continue connecting writers and readers and support our local economy. If you would like to support us without purchasing a book, you may also purchase a gift card or make a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
Calling readers and daydreamers, word mavens and lovers of adventure! This celebration of the power of books is a rallying cry for letting imaginations soar.
We learn important stuff from books.
We learn to speak and think.
We learn why icebergs stay afloat . . .
and why Titanics sink.
Have you ever wanted to climb to the top of Everest with one hand behind your back? Kiss a crocodile all by yourself on the Nile River? How about learning how to bottle moonlight, or track a distant star? There are endless things to discover and whole universes to explore simply by reading a book. But books are only smears of ink without the reader’s mind to give their letters meaning and bring them to life. With a rollicking, rhyming text and delightful artwork, poet and storyteller Allan Wolf and illustrator Brianne Farley remind us that books, no matter how they may be consumed, give readers of every background an opportunity to expand their world and spark their imagination. With infectious enthusiasm, No Buddy Like a Book offers an ode to the wonders of language–written, spoken, and everything in between.
Allan Wolf is the author of many award-winning books for children and teens, including The Day the Universe Exploded My Head and The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts. Before the publication of No Buddy Like a Book, Allan Wolf frequently recited the text of the poem for educators and students, to avid response. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Brianne Farley is the author-illustrator of Secret Tree Fort and Ike’s Incredible Ink. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s, the New York Times, and elsewhere. Brianne Farley lives and works in Traverse City, Michigan.
The North Asheville Book Club meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Stay tuned for next month’s selection!
This club will meet virtually via zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please email [email protected] for the link to join!
Join host and Malaprop’s Bookseller Allison Beatty to dive into the wreck of the wily and wonderful world of sci-fi, weird fiction, speculative fiction, literary horror, and disturbing fiction with a healthy mix of underappreciated classic and contemporary books. The club normally meets at Malaprop’s on the last Monday of every month at 7:00pm.
Click here to see a full schedule of what the club is reading. Club attendees get 10% off the book at Malaprop’s!
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Like most of our events, this event is free, but registration is required. Click here to RSVP for this event. Prior to the event the link required to attend will be emailed to registrants.
Wayne Caldwell will sign and personalize copies of Woodsmoke purchased from Malaprop’s! Pre-order below and put your personalization request in the comment section during checkout (e.g. “to Jane”).
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. If you would like to support us without purchasing a book, you may purchase a gift card or make a donation of any amount. Thank you!
Woodsmoke is a poetry collection that renders the experience of living out life in a single, exquisite place–“in the shadow of the mountain my father said was mother to us all”–Mount Pisgah in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Wayne Caldwell, author of the novel Cataloochee, brings us the waning days of Posey Green, who cuts his own firewood, looks after himself, and tends to the land where his wife Birdie and her people are buried. Posey’s colloquial narrative poetry is presented as found verse, conjured from Posey’s internal musings–and these poems alternate with those of a new neighbor, a sympathetic female poet who observes Posey and his surroundings and creates a more formal poetic record of his days.
Wayne Caldwell is the author of the novels Cataloochee (2007) and Requiem by Fire (2010). He has won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award from the Western North Carolina Historical Association and the James Still Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Woodsmoke is his first collection of poetry. He lives with his wife, Mary, just west of Asheville, on land that has been in her family since 1831. In his spare time, he works up firewood.
Ron Rash is the author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to the critically acclaimed novels The Risen, Above the Waterfall, The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, Nothing Gold Can Stay, a New York Times bestseller, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize and winner of the 2019 Sidney Lanier Prize for Southern Literature, he is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University and lives in Clemson, SC.
The presentation will include ways that Woodford has highlighted the voices of people that have often been overlooked, as she shares the history and heritage of African Americans who have lived in far Western North Carolina communities.
The lecture will be followed by four additional virtual events featuring Woodford on Thursdays, March 11 and 25, and April 8 and 15 from 1-2 p.m. Those free-to-the-public sessions, held under the theme “When All God’s Children Get Together: Fostering Racial Justice Book Club with Ann Woodford,” will address several topics covered in the author’s new book.
Participants, who can register at https://aarp.cvent.com/AnnWoodfordBookClub, will discuss subjects listed below with facilitators and Woodford:
March 11–General Overview. How African American people in this region compare to nationwide: race relations and racial disparities.
March 25–History of Ethnic Cleansing in Georgia and how it led to African American people coming to Western North Carolina (includes other national cleansings, the Green Book and a coup in Wilmington, N.C.)
April 8–What is White Privilege and how it can make a difference; Using your power to make a difference.
April 15–Steps that can be taken to smooth race relations locally and beyond.
As a child in a segregated, one-room, one-teacher “colored/negro” elementary school in the small mountain town of Andrews, N..C. Woodward’s talents as an artist were discovered by one of her teachers. Soon, she was using oils, pencil, charcoal and ink as she drew remarkable scenes of people, animals and landscapes, which has led to a long career as an artist. Eventually, her creativity knew no boundaries, as she has excelled as a writer, designer, entrepreneur and speaker. Learn more about Woodford at her website, https://anntree.com.
Event participants can find her book at the library, various local and national online sellers or on her website. While the book is recommended, it is not required to participate.
The lecture will be followed by four additional virtual events featuring Woodford on Thursdays, March 11 and 25, and April 8 and 15 from 1-2 p.m. Those free-to-the-public sessions, held under the theme “When All God’s Children Get Together: Fostering Racial Justice Book Club with Ann Woodford,” will address several topics covered in the author’s new book.
Participants, who can register at https://aarp.cvent.com/AnnWoodfordBookClub, will discuss subjects listed below with facilitators and Woodford:
March 11–General Overview. How African American people in this region compare to nationwide: race relations and racial disparities.
March 25–History of Ethnic Cleansing in Georgia and how it led to African American people coming to Western North Carolina (includes other national cleansings, the Green Book and a coup in Wilmington, N.C.)
April 8–What is White Privilege and how it can make a difference; Using your power to make a difference.
April 15–Steps that can be taken to smooth race relations locally and beyond.
As a child in a segregated, one-room, one-teacher “colored/negro” elementary school in the small mountain town of Andrews, N..C. Woodward’s talents as an artist were discovered by one of her teachers. Soon, she was using oils, pencil, charcoal and ink as she drew remarkable scenes of people, animals and landscapes, which has led to a long career as an artist. Eventually, her creativity knew no boundaries, as she has excelled as a writer, designer, entrepreneur and speaker. Learn more about Woodford at her website, https://anntree.com.
Event participants can find her book at the library, various local and national online sellers or on her website. While the book is recommended, it is not required to participate.
https://www.aarp.cvent.com/AnnWoodfordBookClub
YMI Cultural Center and Buncombe County Public Libraries have partnered on a book club exploring modern Black authors. December’s selection is The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Asheville’s YMI Cultural Center (YMI) and Buncombe County Public Libraries (BCPL) are partnering to create a book club focusing on modern Black authors and readers. Beginning Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, the Black Experience Book Club will meet twice per month at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
To maximize safety, meetings will be held in a hybrid in-person and online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone interested may join the meeting via Zoom or meet in person at the YMI Impact Center, 39 S. Market St., Suite A, Asheville, NC 28801. In-person meetings will be capped at 10 participants in order to observe social distancing.
To register to attend in-person, please call YMI staff at 828-257-4540 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Thursday or email [email protected] at any time. To receive the Zoom link or for questions regarding finding copies of book club titles, please contact Alexandra Duncan at [email protected]. You may also find information about upcoming titles and request the Zoom link through the library’s Events Calendar. Visit buncombecounty.org/library and click on Events Calendar at the top of the page.
In December 2020, the Black Experience Book Club will discuss The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In January 2021, members will discuss The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah, and in February 2021, Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi. Selected titles for future months will be announced in book club meetings, on the library’s Events Calendar, and via YMI and BCPL social media channels. Readers may borrow any of these titles at any BCPL location or at the YMI. Copies will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so participants are encouraged to reserve their copies early.
Purchase the Book | More About Chris Wilson
The first book club feature will be The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose by Chris Wilson. Registration is available now and the online meetups will be on February 25th, March 11th, and March 25th (includes Author Q&A). The book has been described as “An inspiring instructive, and ultimately triumphant guide to turning your life around, from a man who used hard work and his Master Plan to convert a life sentence into a second chance.”