Writing Circle
Dozens of ambitious writers looking to pen the next great American novel converge in Wilmington this weekend to learn the ins-and-outs of the writing industry.
UNCW hosts its third annual Summer Writers Conference this week, bringing authors and those interested in the publishing world together. The forum organized by the University of North Carolina Wilmington starts Friday and runs through Sunday. There are few remaining spots available, officials say, and advanced registration is required.
This year’s salient speaker is New York Times best-selling author and North Carolina native Wiley Cash. Accompanying Cash is accomplished fiction writer and teacher at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Richard Krawiec. During the conference Cash, Krawiec, and the passionate writers and teachers of the university’s creative writing department will be collaborating to provide workshops, roundtable discussions, group writing activities, and optional individual conferences with the visiting speakers (with an additional fee).
Michael White, professor and chair of the creative writing department at UNCW, started the Writers Conference three years ago “as the MFA program achieved prominence and a curiosity arose within people who have always wanted to write,” he says. The summer session is an opportunity for locals to take a weekend for themselves and exercise their creative writing desires, White says.
White says he chose Wiley Cash to be the conference’s keystone speaker as he is a best-selling author from the area and is currently rising with his great potential. At the conference, Cash will hold several craft workshops with a focus on utilizing regional discourse in fiction writing, while Krawiec will lead the more creative non-fiction workshops and roundtable discussions. Assisting Krawiec with these discussions is Beth Staples, assistant director of UNCW’s The Publishing Laboratory. In addition, UNCW professor and director of The Publishing Laboratory Emily Smith will lead the poetry workshops.
The Summer Writers Conference is intended to serve as a community outreach, providing people of all ages and occupations the opportunity to improve their composition skills and explore their writing creativity. The main areas focused on during the session are fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The three-day event is designed to be highly hands-on and inventive. Throughout the conference, authors and participants have the opportunity to share their anthologies and provide and receive feedback.
For more info and registration, uncw.edu/summerwriters or call 962-3195.
