Join Juniper Bends — now in its 14th year — at Citizen Vinyl for readings by poets, a shorty story writer, and a musical guest! Enjoy delicious mocktails and cocktails from Session. Bring your literary friends!
Katherine Soniat is a poet, professor, and editor. She teaches in the University of North Carolina at Asheville’s Great Smokies Writers Program and currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Her latest collection, Polishing the Glass Storm, published by Louisiana State University Press Poetry Series, came out in 2022. Bright Stranger was published by Louisiana State University Press Poetry Series in 2016. A Raft, A Boat, A Bridge from Dream Horse Press (2012) was the runner-up for The Orphic Prize.
Melanie McGee Banchi grew up in a series of character-forming historic houses in different parts of the U.S. Starting at age 12, she gathered modest notice on the spelling-bee circuit, won short-story contests in various newspapers, and placed poems and fiction in national print publications, including the grunge-era teen magazine Sassy. After university, she began a career in features journalism in Asheville, North Carolina, where she has lived most of her life.
Alan Mearns, aka Yes the Raven is a poet and musician from Ireland. He began studying classical violin at age five, switching to the guitar at age ten. Moving to the United States in his late teens, he studied classical guitar performance with Douglas James at Appalachian State University (where he held the prestigious Fletcher Scholarship) and with Stanley Yates at Austin Peay State University.
Molly Rice is currently a theatre teacher/director of the Tractor Shed Theatre and editor of the literary magazine “Indian Ink” at St. Stephens High School (SSHS). She is the district coordinator for the National Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest. Molly currently resides in Hickory, North Carolina with her husband Irish poet, Adrian Rice, and their son.
Kevin Evans has been a part of The Poetry Cabaret, Asheville Slam, and most currently Black Diamond Group with Penny Meacham. In 2019 he has had the fortune of hosting his own workshop during WordFest on the topic of Passion and Intention as it relates to the written and spoken word. |
