Events Calendar
Explore family friendly events, theatres, galleries, concerts, nightlife, things to do, and more in the Greenville, SC and Upstate areas.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Is it actually good though? That is the question. Join us as we discuss books that have gone viral on TikTok. This month we will be reading “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab. Copies will be available behind the desk at the Cyrill-Westside Library. All adults are welcome.
Writers of all genres, formats, and skill levels are welcome to attend the writing group. Those who attend may share and discuss their work with others, participate in writing exercises, and access helpful writing resources.
Darren Todd, will lead a virtual writing workshop titled “What if you fly? Weaving speculative elements into fiction.”
The term speculative fiction has grown in usage, but what does it mean? Simply, it’s fiction that speculates or forecasts what might happen. The “if” in that scenario is up to the writer. Spec-fic (as it’s often called) isn’t beholden to a single genre. Certainly, dystopian novels fall under this category, but so could alternate history, science fiction, horror, or even drama. Many ideas can greatly benefit from introducing speculative elements, which give readers a heightened sense of curiosity, wonder, and even engages them to be a part of how the writer’s “what if” develops. Humans are natural problem solvers, and few things kick off that need to find answers like a solid “what if.”
For this workshop, we’ll delve into the rise of spec-fic, how it crosses genre, as well as flexing our speculative muscles with breakout exercises to be reviewed during the workshop.
This workshop is open to writers of all skill levels and is a fun way to find inspiration from a new prompt or revise current work. It is hosted by the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara and will use Microsoft Teams for the virtual connection. Sign up to attend the workshop here!
Darren is a freelance book editor for Evolved Publications, and his short fiction has appeared in fifty publications over the years, including Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and The Stoneslide Corrective. His short story collection, The Ugly Mug and Other Stories, launched on Amazon and Audible in 2023.
While some of his works fall under the literary umbrella, he often returns to speculative and horror fiction. His style and preferences tend toward the psychological, as he enjoys stories that linger in the imagination long after he’s closed the book on them.
He lives in Hendersonville, NC with his son and girlfriend. See what he’s up to at darrentodd.net.
Join us to discuss “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin. A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore.
Join us for an informal writing workshop.
Registration required. Call 864-963-9031.
December’s book is Zoulfa Katouh’s “As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow.” A love letter to Syria and its people, “Lemon Trees” is a speculative novel set amid the Syrian Revolution, burning with the fires of hope, love, and possibility.
Join us for a discussion of “Fingersmith” by Sarah Waters. Copies of the book will be available for checkout at the AV Desk prior to the discussion.
Read and discuss Silver Alert by Lee Smith.
Registration required. Click the register button or call 864-234-4904 to register.
Part of the event series: Book Clubs
Start the New Year off with a First Day Hike at Paris Mountain State Park. This hike is one of three being offered on the day and will proceed our Hobo Stew Lunch at Noon.
We will form carpools this year at the intersection of State Park and East Mountain Creek Roads:
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/34.7519272,-82.2981903/34.9145049,-82.3702707/@34.9145475,-82.3685746,18z/data=!4m5!4m4!1m1!4e1!1m0!3e0
The parking attendant will collect everyone’s can vegetables prior to hike departure and get your food to the chef. The start times from the carpooling site are shown below. Please arrive 15 minutes early to get into a carpool. State Park admission fee required; therefore, consider carpooling with drivers who have an annual State Park pass. We are carpooling into the park because of capacity limitations with other state park events. This is a condition of our club’s use of Shelters 5 and 6 on this date.
Hikes will start from different trailheads along State Park Road and will NOT start from Sulphur Springs Shelter as we have done in the past.
Start Time: 8:30 AM
Going counter-clockwise from the Archer Range parking lot we’ll head up Sulphur Springs and then take the Brissy Ridge and Pipsissewa Trails to North Lake. At North Lake, we’ll take a user trail over Piney Spur for decent winter views before descending to Firetower. We’ll then take Firetower to Sulphur Springs to descend to the shelters for the Hobo Stew.
M: 6 EG: 1200. R: S
Leader: Mark Parsons
Leave at 9:00 a.m. sharp.
Mandatory: Whistle, water, lunch
Moderate to strenuous.
Information: 7-8 miles
Crowders trail to the Tower trail with a view of Charlotte if it’s clear. This is a North Carolina State Park off I 85.
Other: If this is your first hike with me, please contact me via the Meetup site to discuss your capabilities before you come on your first hike with me. You are also responsible for the capabilities of any guest you bring so please make sure they can do the event.
Emergency contact information: Please have an emergency information sheet in your pack in case of an emergency. Information on it should include your full name, address, and phone number, medical conditions, allergies, blood type (if known), and emergency contact name and telephone number. This information is for emergency medical personnel. We will not ask you for this information. No dogs please. Children under 14: Please check with me before you bring a child under 14. Fee: no fee.
Carpool Gas $5-8
We will meet at the visitor center. Hike around Lake Placid which is 1.3 miles with 82 feet of elevation.
We will continue the hike over to the Sassafras trail which is 2.2 miles with 489 gradual feet of elevation.
Total hike is around 6.1 miles less than 500 feet of elevation and we will go to lunch after.
This is a pet friendly hike please bring plenty of water and hiking poles aren’t really necessary
This will be rain or shine hike.
Join our Novel Tea Book Club. We will be discussing books written by South Carolina authors that we have chosen to read. It’s up to you. Choose yours and bring it to share. No spoilers, please.
This month we will discuss “The Last Chance Library” by Freya Sampson. All adult patrons are invited to join us for a lively discussion.
Some of the best times we have at M. Judson come from our collaborations with Mission Grape and Camilla Kitchen, where we let the food and wine do the storytelling. One afternoon amongst the bottles, Chef Teryi got to talking about her not-so-distant tradition of Runaway Fridays, where a person might sneak off for a midday margarita and be all the better for it. And we figured we can do better than that.
So join us for our favorite getaway in The Gallery at M.Judson: Runaway Friday Wine Lunch. We’ll pair three wines from the same producer with three small plates from Camilla Kitchen, get some delicious education from Danny Baker and Chef Teryi, as well as a sweet little treat to go.
Wines will be for sale, tickets will be limited!
Join us for a Pop-Up with author Ashley Moses! She’ll be in store with her children’s book A Princess’ Crown.
Come meet Ashley, hear more about her work, and get a copy Saturday morning from 10am to noon!
ABOUT THE BOOK
A princess should always love her crown and be able to take care of it. Journey through this princess’ love of her hair and learn how to braid, maintain and more on the way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashley Moses uses her Bachelors degree in Elementary Education as a literacy interventionist in Greenville, SC. Her love for graphics and photography, helped her illustrate this book. During her time out of the classroom, she and her husband operate their business, Xtreme Cheesecakez, while balancing a family of 6.
Ashley’s hope is to create a series of children books so girls can learn various ways to do and love their crown.
Fulfill your New Year’s Resolution to read more and scroll less! Stock up on books for the new year at our first Spartanburg Boozy Book Fair.
There was nothing like the elementary school book fair – the smell of new books in the air, the rush of racing your friends to find the next installment of your favorite series, and, if you were lucky, the crinkle of money from Mom in your pocket.
Life felt so much easier back then, didn’t it? Don’t you find yourself wishing from time to time that you could just go back?
This January, you can – but we’re doing it grown-up style.
Don’t miss our Boozy Book Fair at Ciclops Cyderi & Brewery (197 E St John St, Spartanburg, SC 29306) on Sunday, January 7th from 1-3pm!
Book categories will include:
-Geeks and Gamers
-Gothic and Ghastly
-Read the Rainbow
-Meet Cute Moments
-Truth ‘R Us
-Criminally Good Reads
…and much much more!
This event is FREE and open to the public, so bring your friends! Be sure to RSVP so we have the booze + books ready – we can’t wait to see you there.
In this meeting, we will discuss chapters 1-9 in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2).
Learn about how to grow mushrooms at home, basic fungal biology, and the top wild mushrooms to collect in the forest. Presented by Steve Pettis, Henderson County Commercial and Consumer Horticulture Agent and host of the Gardening in the Mountains Radio Show,
Thank you, Whitney, for putting together our options for January! The group voted to read: Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine.
Synopsis
An urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.
Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric neuroendocrinologist who has long been on the cutting edge of medicine and science, challenges our current healthcare paradigm which has gone off the rails under the influence of Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government.
Metabolical weaves the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society into a completely new fabric by proving on a scientific basis a series of iconoclastic revelations, among them:
Medicine for chronic disease treats symptoms, not the disease itself
You can diagnose your own biochemical profile
Chronic diseases are not druggable, but they are foodable
Processed food isn’t just toxic, it’s addictive
The war between vegan and keto is a false war–the combatants are on the same side
Big Food, Big Pharma, and Big Government are on the other side
Making the case that food is the only lever we have to effect biochemical change to improve our health, Lustig explains what to eat based on two novel criteria: protect the liver, and feed the gut. He insists that if we do not fix our food and change the way we eat, we will continue to court chronic disease, bankrupt healthcare, and threaten the planet. But there is hope: this book explains what’s needed to fix all three.
We look forward to having author Terri Parlato spend an evening with us! Grab a cocktail and a seat because you’re not going to want to miss hearing her chat about her new novel A What Waits in the Dark.
Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.
BOOK SUMMARY
Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery – and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed…
When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.
Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?
Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.
Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Terri Parlato is the acclaimed author of domestic suspense, including All the Dark Places and What Waits in the Woods. Born and raised in upstate New York. She currently lives in a small north Georgia town with her husband and dog, Lucy. For more information, visit her online at TerriParlato.com.