It’s that time! Tradition calls for setting goals for the coming year. Here’s a suggestion: Let’s resolve to better educate ourselves on the myriads of challenges facing our planet and the creatures that call it home. To welcome 2025, I asked local wildlife enthusiasts for their favorite reads. Here are the picks.
If you want to learn how to carve Mallard decoys, weave corn dollies and dye wool all in the same afternoon, you could browse the internet. Or, you could take a trip to the Robert W. Gray Library, located inside the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
JonQPublik, an alcohol ink artist whose work at Foundation Studios was lost in the flood, says, “2025; if anything I hope it’s a bit less chaotic, and a lot more creative. Colorful.”
A new 69-acre public park has opened in Saluda, featuring 1.8 miles of walking trails and an observation deck. Bell Park links an expansive corridor of natural habitat, stretching from High Bridge near Lake Summit to the Green River Game Lands and offering a myriad of ecological conservation benefits.
A serendipitous encounter in October proved life-changing for artist Jenny Ellis, of The Artful Chair. Although going to High Point’s furniture market has been an annual trek for her since 2000, she almost didn’t go this year, with the devastation of Hurricane Helene so recent.
Celia Miles’ new novel, Eight Nights at the Harris Hotel, is a departure from her series of mysteries centering around Appalachian grist mills. “My inspiration for writing started when my doctor was whistling Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides,” says Miles.
Asheville author Leissa Shahrak chose Iran of the late 1970s, the time of the Iranian Revolution, as the setting for her debut novel, Half the World. “I think it’s important that readers understand that today’s Iran, the Iran they hear about on the news, is quite different,” she says.
The Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) has been very aptly described by the late, great Roger Tory Peterson as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” Not to be confused with its doppelgänger and close relative the House Finch, this purple variety is unique in its own right.
The Laurel of Asheville is available in both print and digital editionsWe are delighted you have chosen us to be your gateway—both through our popular print Asheville lifestyle magazine and our website—to the arts, culture, and communities that comprise the remarkable area that is Western North Carolina. In these pages, you will find behind-the-scenes stories about the region’s concerts, theatre and dance productions, festivals, restaurants, artists, and the multitude of locally-based businesses. We also enjoy bringing you features about the people and organizations who are caring for those in need, protecting our historic heritage, preserving our rich and diverse environment, and nurturing our cultural soul.
