Arts + Entertainment
I am one of you forever: Remembering WNC literary icon Fred Chappell
In a November 2022 interview with The Smoky Mountain News, storied writer Fred Chappell, a Haywood County native who was 86 at the time, was asked what the culmination of his life meant to him looking back.
A portrait of an Appalachia upbringing
For those of you who don’t know her, Julia Nunnally Duncan is an award-winning freelance writer and author of 11 books of nonfiction, fiction and poetry who is a native of Western North Carolina whose hometown is Marion.
An artist's legacy: New database contributes to study of George Masa's photography
Angelyn Whitmeyer might be the last person you would expect to contribute to ongoing research surrounding a Japanese photographer who found inspiration in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Fun with weird data, poetry, and history
Suppose, like some of us, you find yourself needing a quick word fix. You’ve got the jones for something to read, but you’re so short on time that even a short story seems as problematical an undertaking as “War and Peace.” You want a dash of amusement, a dollop of entertainment, and you want it now.
A year in review: the best albums of 2023
Editor’s Note: Since August 2012, Garret K. Woodward has held the position of arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News. In December 2018, he also became a contributing writer for Rolling Stone.
Come what may: poetry for the new year
In a recent online search, I came across “Good Riddance, But Now What?” by that master of light verse, Ogden Nash:
The true story of a teacher who defied Hitler
In 1933 Germany, headmistress Anna Essinger was ordered by the newly-elected Nazi party to fly a Nazi flag above her school.
Fingers like lightning: A Haywood County banjo retrospective
Editor’s Note: Since first rolling into Haywood County in August 2012 to start work as the arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News, Garret K. Woodward has been extensively documenting banjo players around our backyard.
Five strings of fury: New book spotlights Haywood banjo legends
In the mid-1960s, when Bill Allsbrook was a med school student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he decided to pick up the banjo.