The North Carolina Writers Network and The Brandy Bar + Cocktails will host 16 poets and 1 artist from the Kakalak Anthology 2025 on Wednesday, April 8,2026, in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The writers are residents of Asheville, Lake Norman, Cullowhee, Brevard, Mills River, Flat Rock, as well as Hendersonville. Poets will read their poems and the artist display her artwork published in the journal last year. Accomplished poets and artist, the line-up (with an additional book or journal cited) includes: Margaret Bishop (Kakalak), Kathleen Calby (Flirting with Owls), Bill Caldwell (Artemis Journal), Catherine Carter (By Stone and Needle), Ken Chamlee (The Best Material for the Artist in the World), Darcy (Frogpond), Heidi Mayfield Drost (Kakalak), Nicole Farmer (Honest Sonnets), Maeve Fox (Letting Go of Me), Paige Gilchrist (ONE ART), Louis Giron (2025 First Prize Winner – Kakalak), Karen Luke Jackson (You First), Carolyn Kane Kenna (Keep Your Damn Seat), Gina Malone (What Does Anyone Know About Goddesses?), Nancy Martin-Young (Kakalak), Gary V. Powell (The Largesse of the Maidenhair Fern), Nancy Harmon Womack (Red Jacket Requiem).

For more information on the Kakalak poets and the anthology visit: https://kakalakanthology.com