Spring Conference Sets Attendance Record
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GREENSBORO—When their 2018 Spring Conference opens at 8:00 am this Saturday, the North Carolina Writers' Network will welcome a record-setting number of attendees.
The state's largest and most inclusive writers' organization will bring together 161 pre-registrants on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for a full day of workshops and sessions on the craft and business of writing, as well as panels, readings, open mics, and more.
The previous high for Spring Conference attendance was 137, set in 2015.
"At my first Spring Conference as Executive Director, in 2008, we had sixty-six attendees," says NCWN Executive Director Ed Southern. "And we were thrilled."
Spring Conference broke 100 attendees in 2012 and has consistently hovered around the 125 mark since then—until this year.
Tar Heel writers are excited about learning from renowned authors such as Naima Coster, whose debut novel Halsey Street is out this Spring. She, along with poet Emilia Phillips (Empty Clip) and Cynthia Nearman (storySouth) will lead the Master Classes in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, respectively.
North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Jill McCorkle (2018) will give the Keynote Address. Other programming features include faculty readings, open mics, and the popular Slush Pile Live!, where a panel of editors gives feedback on submissions being read aloud: all anonymous, all live!
The exhibit hall too will be filled to bursting with some of the best literary publications and organizations in the state. NCWN has profiled each exhibitor in a series of blog posts. Click here for Part I, Part II, and Part III.
Greensboro's Scuppernong Books will be the official conference bookseller. Conferencegoers are encouraged to bring along an extra shopping bag and get a jump on their summer reading.
On-site registration will open for the North Carolina Writers' Network 2018 Spring Conference at 8:00 am on Saturday, April 21, in the MHRA Building on the campus of UNCG.
Registrants may park for free in the Oakland Avenue Parking Deck, across Forest Street from the MHRA Building (behind Yum Yum Better Ice Cream and Old Town Draught House), courtesy of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at UNCG. Spring Conference also is made possible by the North Carolina Arts Council.
Jill McCorkle to Give Keynote Address at NCWN 2018 Spring Conference
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GREENSBORO—The Keynote Address at the North Carolina Writers' Network 2018 Spring Conference kicks off a full day of classes and sessions on the craft and business of writing. Past speakers have included Michael Parker and North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductees Fred Chappell and Jaki Shelton Green.
Spring Conference happens Saturday, April 21, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. On-site registration will be available beginning at 8:00 am in the MHRA Building lobby on the UNCG campus.
2018 North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Jill McCorkle will give this year's Keynote Address.
McCorkle has the distinction of having her first two novels published on the same day in 1984. Since then she has published four other novels and four collections of short stories. Five of her books have been named New York Times notable books, while three of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories anthologies. McCorkle has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. She is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
McCorkle has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts, and Brandeis, where she was the Fannie Hurst Visiting Writer. She was a Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Fiction at Harvard for five years where she also chaired Creative Writing. She currently teaches creative writing in the MFA Program at NC State University and is a core faculty member of the Bennington College Writing Seminars. A native of Lumberton, she lives with her husband, photographer Tom Rankin, in Hillsborough.
You can read McCorkle's essay "Cuss Time" and her short story, "Me and Big Foot," on the American Scholar website.
When McCorkle is inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame this October, she will join journalist Joseph Mitchell as one of two from Robeson County. Other inductees include Dr. James W. Clark, Jr., of Raleigh; Randall Kenan of Hillsborough; Penelope Niven of High Point; and Marsha White Warren of Chapel Hill.'
“I am Robeson County born and bred,” McCorkle said. “To me it’s an important place, and my work does reflect this place.”
McCorkle is working on her next novel, which weaves her memories of growing up in Lumberton with her father's recollections of a famous train wreck in Robeson County during World War Two. There is "a courtroom trial as a backdrop" as well as plenty of Robeson County history.
The North Carolina Writers' Network 2018 Spring Conference offers classes on fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, as well as cinematic storytelling techniques; how to submit; and law for writers. Popular programs include the open mics, faculty readings, "Lunch with an Author," and Slush Pile Live! where anonymous submissions are read aloud infront of a panel of editors, who offer constructive feedback each piece—live!
For a taste of what to expect at this year's Keynote Address, you can listen to Fred Chappell give the Keynote Address at the NCWN 2017 Spring Conference, here.
Spring Conference is sponsored in part by UNCG’s Creative Writing Program, which will provide parking for Spring Conference registrants in the Oakland Avenue Parking Deck, across Forest Street from the MHRA Building (behind Yum Yum Better Ice Cream and Old Town Draught House). Other sponsors include the North Carolina Arts Council.
Learn more and register at www.ncwriters.org.