“In the Company of Writers’” program offers a series of personal and conversational dialogues featuring guest writers/poets followed by an open mic forum. These inspirational gatherings will elucidate and entertain those attending. The guest authors speak from 7-8 PM with an open mic from 8 -9 PM. The original music of Bob Sherrill welcomes you, continues during intermission, and closes the evening. Sign-ups for the open mic sheet are posted at the entry.

For Alida Woods “poetry is a form of gratitude and memoir.” She notes, “My poetry will save friends and family from a cumbersome memoir about things they already know! Poems are so much shorter!” Grateful for the Western North Carolina writing community and Charlotte’s Lit’s Chapbook lab, she’s published her second book Listening for Grace Notes in 2025 (Kelsay Press). Her chapbook, Disturbing Borders, was published in 2018 by Finishing Line Press. Her poems appear in The Amsterdam Quarterly, Artemis, Great Smokies Review, Front Porch, and Smokey Blue Literary Arts Magazine. Alida retired after 30 years as a teacher and principal in the Asheville Schools and continues to live in Asheville. She coordinates North Carolina Poetry Society’s Poetry in Plain Sight project there too.

Paige Gilchrist, after years of freelance writing and editing and a decade as editorial director at Lark Books, did what any self-respecting Asheville resident would do: left it all and earned her yoga-teaching certification. She now teaches yoga, trains yoga teachers, produces audio meditations, and loves learning about and practicing poetry with the rich writing community of Western North Carolina. Her poems appear in Amethyst Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, ONE ART, Rattle, Susurrus, Juniper, Kakalak and North Carolina Poetry Society’s Poetry in Plain Sight project. Her chapbook, Weep Holes, will be published by Seven Kitchens Press this fall. She was awarded First Place in the 2026 William Matthews Poetry Contest by The Asheville Review and former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser for her poem “First Kiss.”