NCWN

GREENSBORO, NC—Early registration for the North Carolina Writers' Network 2013 Spring Conference closes Sunday, April 7. The 2013 Spring Conference happens Saturday, April 13, in the MHRA Building at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and attendees can save more than 25 percent by registering now.

Another reason to pre-register is that the popular "Lunch with an Author" program will NOT be available to those who wait to register on-site. “Lunch with an Author" gives attendees a chance to engage in informal conversation with accomplished writers. But conference-goers this year will need to pre-register for this feature, as there will be no on-site registration available for this conference offering. Food will be provided, so that participants can spend less time waiting in line, and more time talking with the author of their choice. (Spaces in “Lunch with an Author” are limited, and are first-come, first-served.)

Courses include two all-day, two-session workshops: “Animating Fiction” with Lee Zacharias, and Judy Goldman’s creative nonfiction workshop, “Writing Personal Essays and Memoir.” One-session course offerings will be led by Lynn York and John McNally (fiction), Scott Huler and Cynthia Nearman (creative nonfiction), and Carolyn Beard Whitlow and John Rybicki (poetry). Scott Nicholson will teach a class on self-publishing e-books, while Terry L. Kennedy and Ross White will lead a workshop for “Authors as Entrepreneurs.”

In the afternoon, a Publishing Panel including Stephen Kirk of John F. Blair, Publisher, Robin Miura of Carolina Wren Press, and Kevin Morgan Watson of Press 53, will answer questions about what they look for in a manuscript and the evolving realities of 21st Century publishing. After looking ahead to the future of books, Andrew Saulters of Greensboro’s Unicorn Press will close the day with a look back, leading a hands-on demonstration of traditional bookbinding, so that conference registrants can turn their well-crafted words into well-crafted objects.

Stephen Kirk has been the editor at John F. Blair, Publisher, for more than twenty years. He is the author of Scribblers: Stalking the Authors of Appalachia and First in Flight: The Wright Brothers in North Carolina and has contributed to other books including Travel North Carolina and Sports in the Carolinas. His short fiction has been reprinted in the Best American Short Stories series.

Robin Miura has worked in publishing for eleven years, first as a production editor for Oxford University Press, and for the past eight years as an independent editor, proofreader, publishing consultant, writing coach, and literary agent for publishing companies and individual authors. She has worked with many different types of books—from academic and educational to self-help—but her passion is literary fiction and nonfiction. Currently she edits fiction and memoir for Carolina Wren Press. Robin is a North Carolina native who enjoys living outside of Raleigh with her husband and two children.

Kevin Morgan Watson is the founding editor of Press 53, a literary publishing company in Winston-Salem. As a publisher and editor, he has worked with writers ranging from newly published authors to winners of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Kevin also serves as an advisor on adaptation of short stories to screenplays for the screenwriting faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking.

Andrew Saulters is a poet and book binder and designer in Greensboro. He hails from Phenix City, Alabama, and teaches composition at Guilford College.

Registration is available online at www.ncwriters.org or by calling 336-293-8844.

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.