Fun Updates From Our Community
Some good news from 2024 retreat participant Jess Rinker: She's part of a recently published anthology, Spinning Toward the Sun: Essays on Writing, Resilience, & the Creative Life. Proceeds benefit Asheville's rebuilding process.
Here's the description: "A guidebook for creatives. Featuring contributions from a diverse group of over 30 nationally-celebrated authors and Western NC powerhouse creatives, Spinning Toward the Sun offers insights on persevering in the creative journey, along with specifics about craft. 100% of proceeds to Hurricane Helene recovery. With all of its proceeds donated to Beloved Asheville and World Central Kitchen, Spinning also serves as a heartfelt act of solidarity, of how we can all play a role in helping heal our communities - and each other - when we need it most."
Becky's Button volunteer Amna Khan won a national writing contest for her short story “Beneath the Orange Peel” — a haunting tale of gender-based violence, survival, and finding strength in the silence. “We had finally found a place to call ours... but beneath the orange peel, all we found was bitterness." Now published in Beyond the Last Page, Amna’s voice is a reminder: Creativity is activism. Writing is resistance. Storytelling is survival.
Congratulations to the 2025 Highlights Foundation Scholarship recipients, and especially to Rebekah Lowell, who was awarded the 2025 Rebecca Dykes Scholarship.
