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, June 9, 2021
Live Stream: Karen Tucker presents Bewilderness, in conversation with Nathan Ballingrud
Jun 9 @ 7:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's Bookstore

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.

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!


Irene, a lonely nineteen-year-old in rural North Carolina, works long nights at the local pool hall, serving pitchers and dodging drunks. One evening, her hilarious, magnetic coworker Luce invites her on a joy ride through the mountains to take revenge on a particularly creepy customer. Their adventure not only spells the beginning of a dazzling friendship, it seduces both girls into the mysterious world of pills and the endless hustles needed to fund the next high.

Together, Irene and Luce run nickel-tossing scams at the county fair and trick dealers into trading legit pharms for birth-control pills. Everything is wild and wonderful until Luce finds a boyfriend who wants to help her get clean. Soon the two of them decide to move away and start a new, sober life in Florida––leaving Irene behind.

Told in a riveting dialogue between the girls’ addicted past and their hopes for a better future, Bewilderness is not just a brilliant, funny, heartbreaking novel about opioid abuse, it’s also a moving look at how intense, intimate friendships can shape every young woman’s life.

Karen Tucker was born and raised in North Carolina. Her fiction has appeared in The Missouri ReviewThe Yale Review OnlineTin HouseBoulevardEpoch, and elsewhere. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her partner and multiple cats.

Nathan Ballingrud was born in Massachusetts but has spent most of his life in the South. He’s worked as a bartender in New Orleans and a cook on offshore oil rigs. His story “The Monsters of Heaven” won the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award. He lives in Asheville, NC, with his daughter.

Thursday, June 10, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 10 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Friday, June 11, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 11 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Saturday, June 12, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 12 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Sunday, June 13, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 13 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Monday, June 14, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 14 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

SVM Book Club: Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend
Jun 14 @ 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Online

From the publisher: “The ballad ‘John Henry’ is the most recorded folk song in American history and John Henry–the mighty railroad man who could blast through rock faster than a steam drill–is a towering figure in our culture. In Steel Drivin’ Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts the true story of the man behind the iconic American hero, telling the poignant tale of a young Virginia convict who died working on one of the most dangerous enterprises of the time, the first rail route through the Appalachian Mountains. Using census data, penitentiary reports, and railroad company reports, Nelson reveals how John Henry, victimized by Virginia’s notorious Black Codes, was shipped to the infamous Richmond Penitentiary to become prisoner number 497, and was forced to labor on the mile-long Lewis Tunnel for the C&O railroad. Equally important, Nelson masterfully captures the life of the ballad of John Henry, tracing the song’s evolution from the first printed score by blues legend W. C. Handy, to Carl Sandburg’s use of the ballad to become the first “folk singer,” to the upbeat version by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Attractively illustrated with numerous images, Steel Drivin’ Man offers a marvelous portrait of a beloved folk song–and a true American legend.”

For this event, please also read the article “Somebody Died, Babe: A Musical Cover-Up of Racism, Violence and Greed,” by Warren Wilson professors Jeff Keith and Kevin Kehrberg and published in the Bitter Southerner.

Available to order through Black Mountain bookstore Sassafras-on-Sutton.

This event is free, but an RSVP is required in order to receive the Zoom link. Registration ends half an hour before the start of the event. RSVP below.

Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale
Jun 14 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Smart Start

Smart Start Partnership for Children is an early childhood nonprofit serving Henderson County families
with children 0-5, with the mission to support, educate, and advocate to build a strong foundation for
the youngest members of our community. Smart Start Partnership for Children has officially moved
offices and now it is time to move all the gently used children’s books. Before this big moving day
happens, Smart Start is hosting ONE MORE final book sale in 2021. Throughout the year Smart Start
hosts book drives with key community partners. The books collected are often used at community
events, early literacy activities, and to support the once-a-year Smart Start book sale fundraiser. During
the covid-19 pandemic Smart Start has been able to host sales, but the organization has not been able
to attend community events. Smart Start wants to get these books into the hands of children, families,
and teachers.
Communications and Development Director Carrie Ann Chandler had this to say about the upcoming
sale.
“We’ve had two virtual sales and one hybrid book sale during this pandemic. While we have
been able to make some gains in fundraising through these efforts, we have not been able to reach the
families and wider community that our live February event has historically reached. We are thrilled that
we will be able to go back to our regular in-person February event in 2022. Please join us for one more
shopping event in 2021!”
Smart Start plans to host a Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale for the week of June 14th – 18th. This
special sale will happen at the old Smart Start offices located at 722 5th Ave West, Hendersonville NC
28739. Folks will be welcomed into the old Smart Start offices to shop boxes and boxes of books, over
6,000 books still available. Special pricing, $Pay what you can for a BOX or a BAG of books. Please see
the schedule for shopping below, special late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mystery Book Club
Jun 14 @ 7:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's

The club will meet virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you are interested in attending, please email [email protected] for instructions about how to attend the club event.  

Join host Tena Frank for Malaprop’s Mystery Book Club! Click here to see a full schedule of what the club is reading. Club attendees get 10% off the book at Malaprop’s!

The club meets at Malaprop’s on the second Monday of every month at 7:00pm.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 15 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale
Jun 15 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Smart Start

Smart Start Partnership for Children is an early childhood nonprofit serving Henderson County families
with children 0-5, with the mission to support, educate, and advocate to build a strong foundation for
the youngest members of our community. Smart Start Partnership for Children has officially moved
offices and now it is time to move all the gently used children’s books. Before this big moving day
happens, Smart Start is hosting ONE MORE final book sale in 2021. Throughout the year Smart Start
hosts book drives with key community partners. The books collected are often used at community
events, early literacy activities, and to support the once-a-year Smart Start book sale fundraiser. During
the covid-19 pandemic Smart Start has been able to host sales, but the organization has not been able
to attend community events. Smart Start wants to get these books into the hands of children, families,
and teachers.
Communications and Development Director Carrie Ann Chandler had this to say about the upcoming
sale.
“We’ve had two virtual sales and one hybrid book sale during this pandemic. While we have
been able to make some gains in fundraising through these efforts, we have not been able to reach the
families and wider community that our live February event has historically reached. We are thrilled that
we will be able to go back to our regular in-person February event in 2022. Please join us for one more
shopping event in 2021!”
Smart Start plans to host a Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale for the week of June 14th – 18th. This
special sale will happen at the old Smart Start offices located at 722 5th Ave West, Hendersonville NC
28739. Folks will be welcomed into the old Smart Start offices to shop boxes and boxes of books, over
6,000 books still available. Special pricing, $Pay what you can for a BOX or a BAG of books. Please see
the schedule for shopping below, special late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 16 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale
Jun 16 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Smart Start

Smart Start Partnership for Children is an early childhood nonprofit serving Henderson County families
with children 0-5, with the mission to support, educate, and advocate to build a strong foundation for
the youngest members of our community. Smart Start Partnership for Children has officially moved
offices and now it is time to move all the gently used children’s books. Before this big moving day
happens, Smart Start is hosting ONE MORE final book sale in 2021. Throughout the year Smart Start
hosts book drives with key community partners. The books collected are often used at community
events, early literacy activities, and to support the once-a-year Smart Start book sale fundraiser. During
the covid-19 pandemic Smart Start has been able to host sales, but the organization has not been able
to attend community events. Smart Start wants to get these books into the hands of children, families,
and teachers.
Communications and Development Director Carrie Ann Chandler had this to say about the upcoming
sale.
“We’ve had two virtual sales and one hybrid book sale during this pandemic. While we have
been able to make some gains in fundraising through these efforts, we have not been able to reach the
families and wider community that our live February event has historically reached. We are thrilled that
we will be able to go back to our regular in-person February event in 2022. Please join us for one more
shopping event in 2021!”
Smart Start plans to host a Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale for the week of June 14th – 18th. This
special sale will happen at the old Smart Start offices located at 722 5th Ave West, Hendersonville NC
28739. Folks will be welcomed into the old Smart Start offices to shop boxes and boxes of books, over
6,000 books still available. Special pricing, $Pay what you can for a BOX or a BAG of books. Please see
the schedule for shopping below, special late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday, June 17, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 17 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale
Jun 17 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Smart Start

Smart Start Partnership for Children is an early childhood nonprofit serving Henderson County families
with children 0-5, with the mission to support, educate, and advocate to build a strong foundation for
the youngest members of our community. Smart Start Partnership for Children has officially moved
offices and now it is time to move all the gently used children’s books. Before this big moving day
happens, Smart Start is hosting ONE MORE final book sale in 2021. Throughout the year Smart Start
hosts book drives with key community partners. The books collected are often used at community
events, early literacy activities, and to support the once-a-year Smart Start book sale fundraiser. During
the covid-19 pandemic Smart Start has been able to host sales, but the organization has not been able
to attend community events. Smart Start wants to get these books into the hands of children, families,
and teachers.
Communications and Development Director Carrie Ann Chandler had this to say about the upcoming
sale.
“We’ve had two virtual sales and one hybrid book sale during this pandemic. While we have
been able to make some gains in fundraising through these efforts, we have not been able to reach the
families and wider community that our live February event has historically reached. We are thrilled that
we will be able to go back to our regular in-person February event in 2022. Please join us for one more
shopping event in 2021!”
Smart Start plans to host a Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale for the week of June 14th – 18th. This
special sale will happen at the old Smart Start offices located at 722 5th Ave West, Hendersonville NC
28739. Folks will be welcomed into the old Smart Start offices to shop boxes and boxes of books, over
6,000 books still available. Special pricing, $Pay what you can for a BOX or a BAG of books. Please see
the schedule for shopping below, special late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Live stream Reader Meet Writer: The Killing Hills with Chris Offutt
Jun 17 @ 7:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's Bookstore

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. Click here to RSVP. Prior to the event we will send an email with the link required to complete your registration and attend on Zoom.


A literary master across genres, award-winning author Chris Offutt’s latest novel, The Killing Hills, is a compelling, propulsive thriller in which a suspicious death exposes the loyalties and rivalries of a deep-rooted and fiercely private community in the Kentucky backwoods.

Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren’t getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can’t handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well-suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer’s increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife.

The Killing Hills is a novel of betrayal–sexual, personal, within and between the clans that populate the hollers–and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honor, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.

Chris Offutt is the author of the short-story collections Kentucky Straight and Out of the Woods, the novel The Good Brother, and three memoirs: The Same River TwiceNo Heroes, and My Father, the Pornographer. His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays, among many other places. He has written screenplays for WeedsTrue Blood, and Treme, and has received fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations.

Friday, June 18, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 18 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale
Jun 18 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Smart Start

Smart Start Partnership for Children is an early childhood nonprofit serving Henderson County families
with children 0-5, with the mission to support, educate, and advocate to build a strong foundation for
the youngest members of our community. Smart Start Partnership for Children has officially moved
offices and now it is time to move all the gently used children’s books. Before this big moving day
happens, Smart Start is hosting ONE MORE final book sale in 2021. Throughout the year Smart Start
hosts book drives with key community partners. The books collected are often used at community
events, early literacy activities, and to support the once-a-year Smart Start book sale fundraiser. During
the covid-19 pandemic Smart Start has been able to host sales, but the organization has not been able
to attend community events. Smart Start wants to get these books into the hands of children, families,
and teachers.
Communications and Development Director Carrie Ann Chandler had this to say about the upcoming
sale.
“We’ve had two virtual sales and one hybrid book sale during this pandemic. While we have
been able to make some gains in fundraising through these efforts, we have not been able to reach the
families and wider community that our live February event has historically reached. We are thrilled that
we will be able to go back to our regular in-person February event in 2022. Please join us for one more
shopping event in 2021!”
Smart Start plans to host a Pay What You Can Bargain Book Sale for the week of June 14th – 18th. This
special sale will happen at the old Smart Start offices located at 722 5th Ave West, Hendersonville NC
28739. Folks will be welcomed into the old Smart Start offices to shop boxes and boxes of books, over
6,000 books still available. Special pricing, $Pay what you can for a BOX or a BAG of books. Please see
the schedule for shopping below, special late hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Saturday, June 19, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 19 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Book Sale at the Black Mountain Library
Jun 19 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Black Mountain Library

You’re invited to shop the Friends of the Library book sale under the big tent in the parking lot at the Black Mountain Public Library. The sale will be held rain or shine on Saturday, June 19, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (please note the library will be closed on June 19 for the Juneteeth holiday).

The Friends group has been collecting and sorting all year to prepare for the sale. There are thousands of books and audiobooks available for purchase. All proceeds from the sale support the Black Mountain Public Library.

David Mruz In-Person Launch Party Meet and Greet
Jun 19 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Fiction Addiction


		David Mruz In-Person Launch Party Meet and Greet image

Join Upstate author David Mruz for an in-person launch party and meet and greet at Fiction Addiction on Saturday, June 19th at 3pm to celebrate the launch of David’s book, Skyskape.

Admission to the event is free, or a ticket that includes the book can be bought for $21.15 (you can pick up your included book at the event). David will be available to mingle and sign books at the event. Per city ordinance, masks are required.

If you do not feel comfortable attending in-person, signed books can be purchased on our website.

Tickets can be purchased online through Saturday, June 19th at 1pm. Refunds can be requested up until the ticket cutoff. At-the-door tickets will be available as space allows.

Sunday, June 20, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 20 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Live Stream: Author Remigiusz Ryziński and Translator Sean Bye
Jun 20 @ 3:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's Bookstore

Join us for the previously untold story of the plot to kick Michel Foucault out of Poland in the 1950s! 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.

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!


In 1958, Michel Foucault arrived in Poland to work on his thesis—a work that eventually came to be published as The History of Madness. While he was there, he became involved with a number of members of the gay community, including a certain “Jurek,” who eventually lead the secret police directly to Foucault’s hotel room, causing his subsequent exit from Poland. That boy’s motivations and true identity were hidden among secret police documents for decades, until Remigiusz Ryziński stumbled upon the right report and uncovered the truth about the whole situation.
Nominated for the Nike Literary Award, Foucault in Warsaw reconstructs a vibrant, engaging picture of gay life in Poland under communism—from the joys found in secret nightclubs, to the fears of not knowing who was a secret informant.

Remigiusz Ryziński is a philosopher, cultural critic, writer, and academic lecturer who works on gender and queer theory; he has published three academic books. He is a graduate of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and has also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. He has received grants from the French government, the Robert Schuman Polish Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, and the city of Warsaw. Foucault in Warsaw is his literary nonfiction debut.

Sean Gasper Bye is a translator of Polish fiction, reportage, and drama. He has published translations of Watercolours by Lidia Ostałowska, History of a Disappearance by Filip Springer, The King of Warsaw by Szczepan Twardoch, and Ellis Island: A People’s History by Małgorzata Szejnert. He is a winner of the 2016 Asymptote Close Approximations Prize, a 2019 National Endowment for the Arts translation fellow, and former Literature and Humanities Curator at the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Monday, June 21, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 21 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Tuesday, June 22, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 22 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Wednesday, June 23, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 23 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Thursday, June 24, 2021
The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 24 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!

Live stream Reader Meet Writer: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black with Terry Roberts
Jun 24 @ 7:00 pm
Online w/ Malaprop's Bookstore

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. Stay tuned for the link to RSVP. Prior to the event we will send an email with the link required to complete your registration and attend on Zoom.


My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black is a noir thriller set on Ellis Island in 1920. It explores just how far some human beings will go to protect racial purity and condemn those they fear.

Ellis Island, 1920. The immigration and public health authorities in New York Harbor are slowly recovering from the war years when a young, pregnant Irish woman disappears from the Isolation Hospital on Ellis Island.

Stephen Robbins, a specialist in finding missing persons, is assigned the case. Yet when he arrives at the site, he discovers a secretive staff and a string of inexplicable deaths and disappearances among immigrant patients in Ellis Island hospitals. Stephen finds an ally in Lucy Paul, a nurse who is also investigating the disappearances, and together they begin to unearth a horrifying conspiracy masked beneath the Isolation Hospital’s charitable exterior. As Stephen and Lucy get closer to the truth and each other, they are swept directly into the dangerous mystery haunting Ellis Island and become the next targets themselves.

Set in the years following World War I, when racial tensions in the U.S. are growing and the science of eugenics is widely accepted, My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black explores just how far human beings will go to protect racial purity and condemn those they fear.

Terry Roberts’ direct ancestors have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina since the time of the Revolutionary War. His family farmed in the Big Pine section of Madison County for generations and is also prominent in the Madison County town of Hot Springs, a consistent setting in his novels. His newest book, My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black, is a literary thriller set on Ellis Island and is due out from Turner in Spring 2021.

Friday, June 25, 2021
Nominations for Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award
Jun 25 all-day
Online

NOMINATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE

2021 THOMAS WOLFE MEMORIAL LITERARY AWARD

The Western North Carolina Historical Association is now accepting nominations for the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Originated by the Louis Lipinsky family and now supported by Michael Sartisky, PhD, the Award is a partnership between WNCHA and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Committee. It has been presented by WNCHA since 1955. The award comes with a $2,500 cash prize.

The deadline for submission of nominated works is July 31, 2021. Anyone with knowledge of an author who meets the qualification criteria may nominate the author for the award. To be considered, an entry must be a published work of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry and meet the following criteria:

  1. It must be a first edition work; revised editions of published works will not be considered for the Award.
  2. The publication date must be between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021.
  3. The author must be a native of western North Carolina or a resident of western North Carolina for at least twelve months prior to the closing date for the Award.
  4. An author may also qualify if the work submitted has a focus on or setting in western North Carolina.

 

Western North Carolina includes the Qualla Boundary and the following 25 counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey.

The Award Panel this year consists of: Catherine Frank, Chair, Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville; Dee James, retired Director of the First-Year Writing Program at UNC Asheville; Tom Muir, Historic Site Manager, Thomas Wolfe Memorial; Gordon McKinney, PhD, former president, Appalachian Studies Association; Terry Roberts, PhD, Director, National Paideia Center; Jim Stokely, President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy.

Nomination letters must specify the following eligibility criteria:

  1. date of publication
  2. birthplace or residence of author
  3. setting of work

 

Nominators should submit a cover letter along with three copies of the work postmarked no later than July 31, 2021 to:

Wolfe Award Committee

℅ Anne Chesky Smith

WNC Historical Association

283 Victoria Road

Asheville, NC  28801

 

An awards ceremony and reception, in honor of the finalists and 2021 Award recipient, will be held in early December 2021.

The Association presented the first Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award to Wilma Dykeman in 1955 for The French Broad. The Award has continued to be funded, in part, by Mrs. E. Frank Edwin, a member of the Lipinsky family and for the last three years by WNCHA, and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Board, both with support from Michael Sartisky, PhD. Other recipients of this prestigious Award include Robert Morgan, Gail Godwin, John Ehle, Robert Brunk, Michael McFee, Lee Smith, Ron Rash, Wayne Caldwell, and Terry Roberts. Sandra Muse Isaacs was the recipient of the 2020 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for her book: Eastern Cherokee Stories: A Living Oral Tradition and Its Cultural Continuance.

The 2021 Summer Learning Program: Tails + Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales
Jun 25 all-day
Online

Illustration of animals reading book.

Get ready to go wild at the library for our annual Summer Learning Program. Join us for Tails & Tales – an exploration of wildlife and fantastical folktales. We’ll have an activity sheet with lots of fun adventures for all ages. You can pick up a sheet at any library starting June 1, or download it HERE. Check our calendar to find our most up to date list of programs all summer long.

 

The 2021 Summer Learning Program is open to young people, preschool through teen, with books and activities for every age. All library programs are free and open to children of all abilities. Come in and see what the library has for you!