Dielle Ciesco, author of the novel, The Unknown Mother: A Magical Walk with the Goddess of Sound, will be reading selections from her book and perform tonal music for healing & inspiration at City Lights Bookstore on Saturday, May 25th at 3 p.m.  In her novel, the reader will find that it isn't everyday that one meets a goddess, let alone a Matrika or being that presides over the sounds of language. It is said such deities can bring us complete liberation. Will that prove true for a struggling vocalist named Wrenne when a mysterious woman appears and offers to help her find her True Voice?

June Skinner Peacock will read from and sign her memoir,Window in the Wall, onSaturday, June 8th at 3 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore.  She began to write in earnest at the age of 89. Two years later, having spent more hours at her desk than can be counted, this memoir is complete. It was to be for her family, and will be treasured by each. However, it reaches beyond simple life experiences to be shared with family into the depths of struggle, reinvention, and joy that speak to the resilience of the human spirit.

For all who read this, there is an honesty that will encourage each of us to seek a full and meaningful life, to welcome and accept new challenges of creativity and reflection, to look forward to the future, no matter our age.

During the late fall and winter months, June lives next door to her daughter and son-in-law in Raleigh, NC. Spring, summer, and early fall she spends in the mountains, at her beloved "Cove" in western North Carolina.

OnThursday, June 27th at 7 p.m.Tom Earnhardt will be at the Mountain Heritage Center to discuss the natural beauty of North Carolina and present his book, Crossroads of the Natural World.  In this richly illustrated love letter to the wild places and natural wonders of North Carolina, Tom Earnhardt, writer and host of UNC-TV'sExploring North Carolina and lifelong conservationist, seamlessly ties deep geological time and forgotten species from our distant past to the unparalleled biodiversity of today. With varied topography and a climate that is simultaneously subtropical, temperate, and subarctic, he shows that North Carolina is a meeting place for living things more commonly found far to the north and south. Highlighting the ways in which the state is a unique ecological crossroads, Earnhardt's research, insightful writing, and stunning photography will both teach and inspire.  Tom Earnhardt, a lawyer by profession, is a committed conservationist and environmentalist. He is also the writer, co-producer, and host of the popular television programExploring North Carolina, which airs on UNC-TV. 

 A young girl, cursed with a strange deformity, finds true friendship among  other misfits and follows a mystery that has already caused several unnoticed disappearances. This exciting novel of paranormal friendship takes place in Victorian England and combines modern love for paranormal adventures with the reality of the hardships deformed and strange people faced in this era. -- Ada Graham, City Lights Customer

Educator, musician, writer and former park ranger, Ted Olson will visit City LightsBookstore on Friday, May 3rd at 6:30 p.m. to read poetry from his new collection, Revelations. He will also perform Appalachian ballads and folk songs.  

Olson has written several books, including two collections of poetry, Breathing in Darknessand his new book, Revelations, and a study of Appalachian culture, Blue Ridge Folklife.  He has edited numerous books, including four volumes ofCrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual and collections of literary works by authors James Still (including the recent book The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories of James Still), Sarah Orne Jewett, and Sherwood Anderson.  Olson co-edited the award-winning The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music(with Charles K. Wolfe), and he contributed numerous trail narratives to the popular hiking guide Hiking Trails of the Smokies.  Additionally, Olson was the music section editor and associate editor for The Encyclopedia of Appalachia.  He has received three Grammy Award nominations for his work as a music historian, most recently this year for Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music.  A seasonal park ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the 1980s and 1990s, he now teaches at East Tennessee State University.

The Iron King by Maurice Druon

Historical fiction at its finest. I bought a copy of the novel as soon as it was officially released after having read a promotional copy. With masterfulstorytelling, Druon makes the world of 14th century French nobility and makes it something so easy to get happily lost in that you might wonder where the past few hours went. Very little of this novel involves swords or the battlefield, and yet the skill with which Druon writes of political maneuvering and intrigue in the court is more than enough to set the hook and keep you reading. I eagerly await the next book in the series. --Jarrett Wilson, WCU intern

The Dark is my favorite children's book I've read this year. I adore both Jon Klassen and Lemony Snicket and was ecstatic when I saw both their names on the cover. The bookand illustrations exceeded every expectation. I always marvel at how quirky and clever Klassen and Snicket are when I'm reading their work and The Dark is no different. I love how darkness is personified and made an actual character in the story rather than just something to be feared. It's an absolutely precious bedtime story unlike any other I've ever read.-- Mollie WCU intern

The Coffee with the Poet series continues onThursday, June 20th at 10:30 p.m. as Brenda Ledford presents her poetry.  Ledford will read from her newly released chapbook, Beckoning.   A Clay County native, Ledford is a retired educator.  She is a member of the North Carolina Writer's Network and Beckoningwas endorsed by Glenda Beall, director of the Writer's Circle.    Beall says of Beckoning, "Brenda Kay Ledford's collection sings harmony and color.  She lets us take a peek into her world as she shares her Appalachian roots in verse.  We relate to the constancy of seasons in nature and our lives."  

The Coffee with the Poet series is cosponsored by the NetWest chapter of the North Carolina Writer's Network and meets every third Thursday at 10:30 a.m.  For more information please call City Lights Bookstore at 828-586-9499.   

Asheville author, Denise Kiernan, will discuss her book, The Girls of Atomic City,on Saturday, June 29th at 6:30 p.m.  Imagine boarding a bus or a train knowing that your destination was a total mystery.  The only thing you've been told is that your work there will help end World War II, and that everything will be taken care of for you.  This was the case for thousands of young women who were recruited by the U.S. government in 1943 to serve the top-secret Manhattan Project.  They came from all across the East Coast and the South, from Alabama to Western Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Sylva, NC.  It turned out their destination was "Site X", or Oak Ridge, a secret city that appeared on no maps.  The individuals who worked there, though they had no idea at the time, were enriching uranium for the first atomic bomb used in combat.  The Girls of Atomic City, shares the never-before-told, true story of these remarkable, hardworking, determined young women and the crucial role they played in one of the most significant moments in U.S. history.  Kiernan explores the mysteries and inner workings of the Manhattan Project through the unique experiences of half a dozen young women who worked in a variety of roles, from secretaries, statisticians and nurses to janitorial staff, calutron cubicle operators and chemists.  For many women, working in Oak Ridge was their first taste of independence, their first time away from home.  Some had just finished high school, others had college degrees, but all were bound together by a shared spirit of survival, purpose, and sisterhood.