NCWN

Charlotte, NC – Registration is now open for the 2008 North Carolina Writers’ Network Spring Conference, which takes place Saturday, April 26, from 8 a.m. until 5:45 p.m. in the Elliott University Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The annual event draws hundreds of writers for intensive workshops in fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, poetry and publishing led by distinguished writing faculty from across the nation. Participants also attend panel discussions, faculty readings, and benefit from networking opportunities with publishers, editors, and other writers.

“Bringing together North Carolina’s writers is the most important thing we do,” says Ed Southern, the Network’s executive director. “The state as a whole has a stronger literary tradition than any one of its towns or cities. Writers from every corner of the state benefit from being a part of that tradition.”

Southern adds that while the Internet has forever changed the literary marketplace, writers’ essential challenges remain the same. “Writers work alone,” he says. “But we’ll always need opportunities to improve our craft, to find an audience, and to share ideas and inspiration with other writers. The Network’s conferences provide that sense of community.”

Critically acclaimed poet Linda Gregg—author of six books and recipient of such honors as a Guggenheim Fellowship, Whiting Award, National Endowment for the Arts grant, and the PEN/Voelcker Award—will provide the keynote address. Gregg’s one-hour talk, which begins at 3:30 p.m., is free and open to the public, as are the faculty readings, which begin at 4:30 p.m.

Conference participants may select from half- and full-day workshops covering such craft issues as plot, characterization and dialogue in fiction and creative nonfiction, and using sensory imagery in poetry and developing creative momentum from one poem to the next. Additional workshop selections feature instruction for screenwriters and playwrights.

Registration for the conference—made possible with support from the Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, UNC-Greensboro, and the North Carolina Arts Council—is $110 for Network members, $145 for non-members.

To register, visit www.ncwriters.org, or call (704) 246-6314 for more information.