Learn to Write Truthfully about the Places that Define Us, with Zackary Vernon
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BOONE, NC—What does it mean to be from a place? Are we of somewhere by the circumstances of our birth, or do we choose the places and spaces that define us? More importantly, how do we write about these places truthfully while being mindful of their impact on our lives-—and our impact on them?
At the NCWN Squire Summer Writing Workshops 2021, July 22-25, at Appalachian State University in Boone, Zackary Vernon will lead the workshop "Writing Place: Creative Nonfiction."
Space is limited; registration is open.
This workshop will explore how to write about places and spaces, while remaining mindful of the interconnections between the natural and cultural, the built and non-built, the human and animal. We will investigate how notions of home and belonging are created and maintained as well as how they can be disrupted by alterations to the cultural traditions and physical environments that surround us and inform our sense of place. During the workshop, we will read and write about the places that have made us who we are today. We will also consider our responsibilities to those places and how to preserve them both in reality and on the page.
Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of this workshop.
Zackary Vernon is an associate professor of English at Appalachian State University in Boone. He has published numerous articles in magazines and journals, such as The Bitter Southerner, North Carolina Literary Review, Southern Cultures, and The Carolina Quarterly. He is also the editor of two recent scholarly collections: Summoning the Dead: Essays on Ron Rash (USC Press, 2018) and Ecocriticism and the Future of Southern Studies (LSU Press, 2019). He is currently working on a novel-in-stories entitled The Flesh Parade.
The NCWN Squire Summer Writing Workshops 2021 offer fifteen hours of workshop time in a single genre with a single instructor. Registration is capped, allowing plenty of time and space for registrants to get to know one another and learn one another's work. Additional weekend highlights include Faculty Readings, Open Mics, group writing activities, conversations, and more.
"We're very grateful to be able to offer in-person events again," said NCWN Executive Director Ed Southern. "SW21 will have all the inclusiveness and creativity our members have come to expect from an NCWN event, while also keeping everyone safe."
Kathryn Kirkpatrick will lead the poetry workshop. The fiction workshop, led by Mark Powell, is full.
Out of an abundance of caution, some changes have been made to ensure the well-being of the attendees. For 2021, there will be no "tag-along" registrations; only those who attend workshops will be allowed to use overnight accommodations at ASU. The "Shared Campus Room" registration option is only available to attendees who live in the same household. Commuters are still very welcome.
For more information about the NCWN Squire Summer Writing Workshops 2021, and to register, click here.
Support for these workshops is provided by the NC Arts Council, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and the family of Chick and Elizabeth Daniels Squire.
The non-profit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to all writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.
Cultivate a Creative Curiosity with Gregory DeCandia
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WINSTON-SALEM, NC—As writers, we likely find our inspiration in different places, but all of us must nurture that creative spark that keeps us curious about the world. Sometimes, that creative spark needs a jumpstart.
Even if we usually find inspiration somewhere other than art, listening to music, absorbing images, and checking in with our own bodies to notice how we move through a space can serve as cross-training exercises for our creativity, which will give us more flexibility and depth as writers.
On Wednesday, June 23, at 7:00 pm EST, Gregory DeCandia will lead the online class "Creative Curiosity."
Registration is open.
Multimedia Artist Gregory DeCandia will guide a 90-minute class that curiously questions the crossroads of creativity through mindfulness, movement, and reflection. Writers will be immersed in multiple artistic mediums to explore the essences of inspiration, access the subconscious, and utilizes the power of reduction.
The cost for the class is $35 for NCWN members, $45 for non-members. Space is limited.
Gregory DeCandia has engaged the industry as an educator, performer, director, podcaster, and cultivator of new works in five different states and abroad. He is the Founder and current Executive Director of Ignition Arts. For the last four years he was the Head of the BA Theatre and Performance devising program at Oklahoma City University. Most recently Gregory was on stage as James Reston Jr in Frost/Nixon at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Last May marked his digital directorial debut with elevated, a devised film adaptation of the poetry graphic novel elevated thoughts: 100 shadormas from 9,000 ft. from Literati Press. His new play Animals received a reading at the National Winter Playwrights Retreat 2019 and a 2020 workshop with Ignition Arts. Gregory also tours his solo docudrama Silhouettes Of Service and has created four podcasts: Thank You 10, Fair Play, Devising, and The Brennan Book Blog Podcast. He is a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill (MFA) and Emerson College (BFA) and member of Actors’ Equity Association and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.
"Creative Curiosity" is the final installment of North Carolina Writers' Network's 2020-2021 series of online classes. The 2021-2022 lineup will be announced this summer.
"The Network has offered online programming since 2016," said NCWN communications director Charles Fiore. "We're proud to already have the educational framework in place that allows us to continue to serve the writers of North Carolina, and beyond, during this time of social distancing."
The online class "Creative Curiosity" is available to anyone with an internet connection, or who even owns just a telephone. Instructions for accessing the online class on Wednesday, June 23, will be sent to registrants no less than twenty-four hours prior to the start of class. The class will be archived and made available to registrants for repeated viewings.
Register here.
The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.