REGISTER TODAY

The Mitford Museum is planning its first annual literary weekend with a focus on nurturing NC’s literary future. Programming will focus on inspiring, encouraging, and empowering writers as we work to increase interest in reading and the literary arts. We’ll offer presentations for readers and writers alike with readings, book signings, and classes. Participating authors include:

• New York Times bestselling author Wiley Cash

• New York Times bestselling author Sarah McCoy

• Former NC Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti

• Award-winning author Sarah Loudin Thomas

• Memoirists Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren

The Hampton Inn in Lenoir, NC, is our recommended hotel for the event. Call 828-758-7664 to book your room.

And be sure to enter our contest for unpublished NC writers HERE by Labor Day.

SCHEDULE

Friday, September 30 – $85 (both days $160)

9:30 a.m.         Registration opens
10:30 a.m.       Welcome
11 a.m.             Wiley Cash – NC history in fiction + Q&A from audience
12 p.m.            Box lunch
1 p.m.              Joseph Bathanti poetry reading + Q&A from audience
2 p.m.             Wiley & Joseph author chat – The Intersection of Poetry & Fiction
3 p.m.              Free time—tour the museum, view Grit art exhibition by Michael Winslow, shop
4-6 p.m.          Author/artist reception with refreshments (open to general public)

Saturday, October 1 – $100 (both days $160)

10 a.m.             Registration, view Grit art exhibition by Michael Winslow
10:30 a.m.       Workshops
#1 – Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren – Writing What You Know
#2 – Sarah Loudin Thomas – Finding the Seed of Your Historical Novel
#3 – Joseph Bathanti – Writing the Narrative Poem
11:45 p.m.       Break
12 p.m.            Lunch + writing competition awards & Sarah McCoy keynote
2 p.m.              Workshops
#1 – Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren – Writing What You Know
#2 – Sarah Loudin Thomas & Sarah McCoy – Fiction Chat + Q&A
#3 – Joseph Bathanti – The Poetry of Witness
3:30 p.m.         Closing comments followed by book signing and refreshments

SATURDAY SESSIONS:

Writing the Narrative Poem– This session will focus on writing poems that tell stories through utilizing classic conventions of fiction and prose memoir, such as dialogue, plot, conflict, characterization, setting/place, etc., but still rely heavily on key elements of poetry such as compressed, often impressionistic language; rhythm; stylized line and stanza breaks; and attention to sound. We’ll attempt to balance the image-charged voltage of poetry with traditionally discursive narrative strategies of fiction and memoir, focusing on the occasion of the poem, and the dramatic situation that inspired it. I’ll bring in handouts of poems that exemplify narrative poetry and there will be a writing exercise, and time for participants to share their work.

The Poetry of Witness– This session takes head-on what poet Carolyn Forche calls “the poetry of witness” and its advocacy “for a shared sense of humanity and collective resistance.” Writing “the poetry of witness,” is not simply a question of conscience, zeal, and commitment to social change and justice, but of craft and control, especially when the poet’s personal testimony (witness) is so often central to the poem at hand. I’ll bring handouts of poems that exemplify “the poetry of witness,” and we’ll examine them through a “writerly eye” (reading like a writer), paying careful attention to the kinds of craft choices that influence the emotional voltage and meaning of a given poem. There’ll be a writing exercise and time for participants to share their work.

Grow Your Own: Finding the Seed of Your Historical Novel– When writing historical fiction, how much history does an author include and when is it alright to “just make stuff up?” Sarah Loudin Thomas’ last three novels center on actual historical events/places in West Virginia. Join her for a lively discussion touching on how she embroiders her fiction with truth. You might even learn something new about Thurmond, WV (the Dodge City of the East); Beverly, WV, (one of the state’s three New Deal Subsistence Homesteads); and Hawks Nest, WV (location of the Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster).

Writing What You Know: Life Stories & Memoir – Join Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren for this information rich workshop that will cover just about everything you need to know about writing memoir! Topics include how and where to begin, collecting information, interviewing, legalities, handling sensitive issues, photo usage, resources, and—last but not least—getting your memoir published! Sandra has been a finalist in the Next Generation Independent Book Awards and won first place in historical fiction in the Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards. Gretchen has won the President’s Award for the NC Society of Historians.