Mountain Wordsmiths is a monthly Zoom meeting sponsored by NCWN-West. We are writers from North Carolina, North Georgia, and in other states across the country.
Gifted poet and playwright Raven Chiong will be the featured reader for this month’s gathering of Mountain Wordsmiths on Thursday, September 28, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.
Chiong’s writing career began at five years of age when she became a loyal pen pal to her absent mother. She earned her Master of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of Florida. She is a lifelong student, life coach, and educator. Career highlights include qualifying for the First Ever 1984 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials and paying it forward with her 19-year cross country coaching career at DePauw University, Florida Atlantic University, Pine Crest Prep School, and Mills College. After a long competitive running and coaching career, she now runs her pen across the pages of this life.
Chiong is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Utah State Poetry Society, Florida State Poetry Association, and National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her poetry and prose have been widely published from coast to coast. Chiong will share her lifelong writing process and read selections from her recently published book, Ode to the Still Small Voice-A Memoir of Listening.
She has been working with Best Friends Animal Society since 2008. Above all, she is the proud and devoted mama of four rescue dogs who found her wandering in the high desert of Southern Utah. They are her ongoing source of inspiration, a-muse-ment, and greatest teachers.