Carolina Mountains Literary Festival

There will be something for everyone at the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival on September 7-9, 2023 in Burnsville, NC. Experience Appalachia through an artist’s gaze or chef’s palate. Hear poetry, true stories, and imaginative tales. All day on Friday and Saturday, 30 authors writing in fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, children, and young adult fiction will give free readings and discuss their books with attendees.

For those who write as well as read, registration is still open for two of our 3-hour writing workshops: Creative NonFiction led by Marjorie Hudson and Playwriting led by Kyle R. Thomas. There is a $35 fee and participation is limited to 15 people in each workshop.

The Festival begins Thursday night at 7pm with Telling Our Own Story: Cherokee Self-Representation in Contemporary Media. Presenting will be an accomplished panel of citizens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), who are contributing to the international movement for Indigenous self-representation in media through writing, podcasting, visual art, and cultural perpetuation. This is a free community event, with no pre-registration required.

Then bright and early Friday morning, two days of FREE sessions kick off at 9am with Fiction author Meagan Lucas, Memoirist Sebastian Matthews and two special Young Adult genre presentations by authors Lauren Yero and Hope Larson – your teenage reader (and budding writer) will not want to miss these!

Memoir lovers will enjoy the insider’s perspective into the lives of spies with Anne Tazewell, the impact of football on a family’s dynamic with Dr. Lori Leachman, the spiritual journey of herbalist and healer Maia Toll, and the shocking crime that catapulted Dr. Benjamin Gilmer into examining the relationship between mental health and mass incarceration.

Art lovers get a chance to dive into process through the eyes of award winning watercolorist, Wyatt Waters, and photo essayist Brent Martin. Foodies can meet Marci Cohen Ferris, whose book captures a portrait of our state’s food history, cultures, and economies through regional chefs, farmers, and more.

This year our poetry line-up includes a wide variety of themes, as well as a special Saturday afternoon showing of Michael Frierson’s film documentary about NC Poet Laureate Fred Chappell. Dr. Len Lawson turns his poetic lens towards the history of black mental health, Maureen DuRant will take you through the ups and downs of family, Hilda Downer will introduce you to Kentucky poet, activist, and radio star Jim Webb (aka Wiley), and Kenneth Chamlee will show you how poetry can tickle your funny bone and still pack a punch.

Escape into the fictional lives of the professors, rockstars, and goth-outsiders that sprang from the fertile brains of authors Scott Gould, Peter McDade and Robert Gipe. Find out what challenges each author faced creating these worlds and what tricks (and even original soundtracks) helped them along the way. Essayist Shuly Xóchitl Cawood will discuss the beauty of brevity while historian Corban Addison will have you cheering on the underdog’s fight to save their small rural NC community.

Saturday starts off with a special interactive storytime for kids with author/illustrator Darren Farrell, and then closes on Saturday night with an intimate in-conversation program with 2021 National Book Award Winner, author Jason Mott. Keynote Registration required ($25).

Visit the Festival website, cmlitfest.org, to read author bios and session descriptions and register for the writing workshops and the Saturday night Keynote.