To celebrate and promote banned books, we asked UNCW's Creative Writing and English Department what their favorite banned books were. Here's their collaborative list of Banned Must-Reads.

"Towels… We need towels!" yelled Morely, descending the stairs, his floral print button-up now a tacky, tropical casualty of arterial spray.

Marcus Dawson is a North Carolina collage artist whose mission is to spread joy and light through hand cut analog collages. He has a deep love for found papers and photographs that enables him to puzzle pieces together to tell a story through art.

I sat down on a spring afternoon with poet Anna Lena Phillips Bell to talk about her new book “Might Could." Winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, “Might Could" explores the floodplains of North Carolina, the flowers that grow along the riverside, what it means to call a place home, and the juxtaposition of loving and grieving for an environmentally traumatized landscape. In “Might Could", you’ll find the Cape Fear River alive with mosquitoes and hurricane wreckage, light

The stage glows red. Thalian's lamps, scattered through the theatre, flicker like candles. Before the curtain even comes up, the audience is already whispering about the spooky atmosphere, waiting with anxious anticipation. We're warned about what's to come: flashing lights, fog, and a whole lot of blood.

encore attended the first free Community Conversation at Seabird with Cape Fear River Watch—with more ahead.

For horror fans, independent film lovers, or even those who just enjoy Wilmington’s general vibe in the fall, The First Cut Film Festival is a great way to kick off the spooky season on October 10th.

Watch the second installment of the Tides of Change video series here and on encore's YouTube channel.

Creative Castle launches Oct. 2, from 5-9 p.m., stretching the length of Castle Street from Third Street to the 11th block. It's free to attend, free for artists to show, and free for businesses to take part.

Dracula is giving Thalian Association Community Theatre a chance to play with something Wilmington doesn't see all that often on a main stage: horror that is actually allowed to be horror.

Former Leland Town Council member Bill McHugh wrote a book to get more children curious about civics.

Panache Theatrical Productions brings the Tony Award-winning musical 'Avenue Q' to the Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre at Thalian Hall September 17-27.

Health writer, Lauren Krouse, typically covers family trauma, not politics. So encore asked her to interview Mary Trump.

September is not a gentle month, so strap in for a collective reading from Seph Wylder.