Ice Mountain Writers Words of Love 2016
Participants in Ice Mountain Writers Words of Love (with Cookies) 2016
Victoria Carr reads Words of Love
Victoria Carr reads Words of Love

Words of Love

The annual Valentine’s Day Reading sponsored by the Ice Mountain Writers (IMW), The Hampshire Actors and Makers of Shows (HAMS) and the Hampshire County Arts Council (HCAC), was held February 13, 2016 despite the frigid weather.

This year’s theme was “Words of Love with Cookies,” and several people read original prose and poetry or shared their favorites. While not all of the words of love were happy, all attending had their hearts warmed by Charlie Snead’s reading of a little book about love that his then-future wife Joanne gave him in 1962. Fast forward, they have been married 52 years!

Gayle Allen shared a story about her mother who, for love of her daughter and her daughter’s little students here in Hampshire County, spent years knitting tiny mittens for the cold hands of those in Gayle’s classes. Denise Huard, Victoria Carr, Aaron Snyder and Dale Brady read original poetry and Aaron closed the readings on a happy note with a poem of love.

The IMW, HAMS and HCAC wish especially to thank the audience who braved the cold and came out in support of the arts. Hopefully they took a bit of warmth and love home with them, as well as the home-baked sweets.

National Poetry Month Celebration


The Ice Mountain Writers joined the Friends of the Ft. Ashby Library to celebrate National Poetry Month with a Poetry Tea at the Ft Ashby Library on Tuesday April 26, 2016. This event was the culmination of the 1st Annual Poetry Contest that ran through April 1 with about 30 poets entering 50 poems. The contest was open to the community and had 3 age groups – children, teenagers and adults. Judges for the contest were Ruth Rowan and Dawn Burke. National Poetry Day was started in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets to encourage the writing and appreciation of poetry. More information can be found at www.poets.org.

The local celebration began with poetry writers and lovers reading their own original or their favorite poems. The winners of the poetry contest were announced and their poems read. There was a good turnout of supportive listeners. Keep an eye out here for information about next year’s poetry contest.

Inviting All Writers


Anyone interested in writing poetry, prose, songs, blogs, novels, screen plays, theatre scripts, journals and more is invited to join the Ice Mountain Writers on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Hampshire County Library on Main Street in Romney WV from 5:30 to 7:00 pm.

Part of the evening we brainstorm about upcoming activities, opportunities, networking – the group decides what to pursue. Ideas under consideration may include such diverse projects as poetry readings, workshops, finding visiting writers, publishing a book of our writings, creating a Book Fair for local writers and writing scripts for the HAMS (Hampshire Actors and Makers of Shows).

Then we get down to the fun side of things and play with writing prompts in our own genre (if we have one) and share (optional) what we have written at the session or in the past. Most importantly, we are not all published writers or famous or anything – anyone can be in the group and explore their creative side. Each of us has started from scratch at some point.

For more information or to receive notices of upcoming sessions, please e-mailor call 304-834-8369.

No fee is charged, but we do ask that you consider joining the Arts Council to help support this website and the Council’s many activities in our community.